Aggie Beever-Jones and Keira Walsh scored their first England goals as the Lionesses thrashed Belgium 5-0 at Ashton Gate to move top of Nations League Group A3.
First-half goals from defenders Luzy Bronze and Millie Bright put England in control before Beever-Jones, Jess Park and Walsh secured the win, which moves Sarina Wiegman’s side a point above second-placed Spain.
It was a comfortable night for England against the group’s bottom side, who failed to have a shot on target and remain without a point from their opening three games.
The two sides meet again on Tuesday in Leuven, where England will be expecting to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign having drawn at Portugal and beaten world champions Spain.
England took a deserved lead against Belgium in the 21st minute through a fortunate Bronze headed opener, which took a big deflection to wrong-foot Belgium goalkeeper Nicky Evrard.
Bronze then turned provider in first-half stoppage time as she flicked on Beth Mead’s corner to the back post where Bright bundled home.
Beever-Jones was brought on for Lauren James at half time, and the Chelsea forward notched her first Lionesses goal with a first-time clinical finish from Mead’s cross in the 67th minute.
Beever-Jones celebrates her first Lionesses goal
Fellow substitute Park then added a fourth 10 minutes later to score in back-to-back games following her winner against Spain at Wembley in February.
But England were not finished there as Walsh finally scored her first England goal on her 83rd cap to put the icing on the cake of a five-star performance in Bristol.
Wiegman ‘feels something happening’ ahead of Euros
Beever-Jones (right) and Jess Park celebrate at Ashton Gate
England’s victory came 89 days away from the start of this summer’s Euros, where the Lionesses will head to Switzerland as the defending champions.
Wiegman believes they are “getting closer” to where they need to be ahead of the tournament, with England now on a six-game unbeaten run.
She told ITV: “I think the second half we dropped a little bit in tempo and then the subs came in and they brought the energy again, but also quality. And what I really liked too, was that we kept it simple. So we didn’t start playing our own game, we kept playing our game, our England game, and kept it simple. And that looks easy, but it is pretty hard, and I really enjoyed that.
“Tuesday [in Belgium] is going to be a different game. So now we win 5-0, we don’t all of a sudden think that we are in the best possible place. We know we have to improve things. Belgium is a totally different opponent than Spain and Portugal.
Keira Walsh (left) and Aggie Beever-Jones both netted their first England goals
“We know where we’re at and what we want to improve, and we’re working on it every day. And we need to keep having these connections because I do feel something’s happening and we’re getting closer.”
Asked whether things have changed this calendar year, she replied: “Yeah, I think so. When we played in October and November last year, we were trying out things and took a risk in that too. That was the opportunity.
“Those risks showed some vulnerability then because we didn’t do things well enough as a team.
“It’s not nice, but it’s okay to learn. And now every game is competitive and you have to win because we want to get in the best possible position for the World Cup draw.”
The 55-year-old added: “We’re not going to get complacent. This is a good performance, but we’re not all the way there.
“We keep neutral. We know we want to go that way. We try to stay neutral and perform again in the next game.”
Walsh ‘over the moon’ to have finally scored first Engand goal
Walsh scored her first England goal on her 83rd cap in the 5-0 win over Belgium
Keira Walsh speaking to ITV on her first England goal, having made her debut in November 2017:
“I’m really excited. It took a big deflection but a goal is a goal. All the girls are super happy for me, which is a really nice feeling.
“I finally got one in the end. A few of them like to remind me how long it’s taken me, but I’m over the moon and it’s really good to be off the mark.”
On where tonight ranks in her England career: “It’s up there as one of my favourite games. In general with the team performance, we played a lot of good attacking football and it was a nice evening to be part of.”
On whether the team’s in a good place: “After the Spain game, the way we defended and played as a team gave us motivation, and we can take a lot of motivation from that.
“We are feeling good and we are looking forward to the summer. We just want to be ready when the tournament comes.”
