Tranmerekat on Tour: Here Come The Spain Again

England Women host Spain Women in the Nations League Group Stage at Wembley Stadium

The Lionesses host La Roja at Prenton Park South. It’s matchday 2 of the Nations League. England are in a tough group with Spain, Belgium and Portugal. They need to start well tonight. A draw away to Portugal on matchday 1 last Friday was not the start the Lionesses needed. They need a big step up in tempo and efficiency tonight. This is the first meeting between the two teams since THAT World Cup Final. There have been loads going on since then including the Rubials trial which has just finished. Jenni Hermosa is not in the squad. Hope she is doing OK. There are some big names missing from the Lionesses with Georgia, Alex and Hampo all absent due to injury.The squads have been announced and Hannah is the keeper with Mary on the bench. Millie and Leah are on guard duty in front of her. Out wide are Lucy and Niamh. So 4 of the 5 at the back are from Chelsea. Kiera, Grace and Ella make up the midfield. Russo is up front with LJ and Jess Park alongside. Plenty of attacking quality in there. Speaking of attacking quality, La Roja have Pini, Paraluello and Lucia Garcia up front. Aitana is in midfield but there is no sign of Alexia. Mariona starts as does Ona Batlle. There is an England fan wearing an Arsenal ‘Mariona’ shirt near us but at least there are none of the Ona Batlle Barca shirts in sight. The crowd looks small but it’s a Wednesday night in February. England need to be on it from the whistle tonight. Hopefully Spain will be distracted by the on-going fallout from the behavior of Rubiales. With the Euros this summer, we need to get Spain accustomed to losing. Tonight is the launch of the new FA campaign “Made for This Game” to unlock equal opportunities in football for women and girls. There are lights and fireworks. We hold up our cards for the National Anthem. And we’re off. Come on Ing-ger-lund.

Spain start well and control the game for 10 minutes or so. The Lionesses then start to gain some control back with both teams making chances. It's LJ looking most likely as she comes very close. There is a big penalty shout for a foul on Leah but it’s waved away. The deadlock is broken on 30 when some good play from Grace and Lessie lands near Jess who toe pokes it home ⚽. Now we need a second to settle our nerves. Spain get some chances to level it from Parallelo and Pina but Hannah is having a good night after a very quiet start. The ref shows her colours (Red maybe?) or not, when she doesn’t book Pina for a clear shirt pull on Kiera. Advantage the Lionesses at the break. 1-0.

It’s all Spain for 5 minutes with Selma Paralluelo and Lucia Garcia causing problems for Hannah and the defence. It’s mostly pot shots fortunately. England are slowly coming back into it with Grace wasting a good chance after some good play by Lucy and Jess. All of a sudden the flood lights go out. The teams have team talks in dark as we all light up our phones to help out. It takes a couple of minutes for someone to find 50p 🪙 for the meter and the lights come back on 🕶. The Lionesses get more chances from LJ and Jess as do Spain with Aitana. Serena starts to make her changes on 63 with Nikita and Chloe replacing Lessi and Jess so it’s like for like tactically. Aitana learns first hand about the Milliedozer as she is launched into a low orbit 🛰 by the Chelsea captain. No love lost there. Nikita is booked for moaning at the ref. The Lionesses have to ride out an onslaught from the Spaniards. It seems to go on and on. Another change sees Tooney replaced by Jess Nas. Hopefully she can use her pace up front to give the Lionesses back line a bit of a breather. LJ has a good chance on 85 and Chloe can’t get hold of it either and the chance has gone. Chloe is booked for showing full commitment to the cause for time wasting on 89. It’s backs to the wall for another 5 minutes but they ride it out and suddenly it’s all over. There’s no real after party as it’s a school night and time to get the last train home 🚂.

That was finally a decent England performance. Could actually have scored more. Might have been less tense then. The Lionesses certainly matched them at times and kept them at a distance when they couldn’t. And got 3 big points. A big win with the Euros coming up and setting the world to rights after the World Cup. Let them know they’re not invincible. The lights going out was very funny and at least it wasn’t another Swindle as this time they came back on. Need to remember to bring some 50p’s next time. It’s a shame about the small crowd but it makes it easier to get out afterwards. The front 3 worked well with LJ and Jess feeding off Lessi’s workrate. LJ has hugely improved as a defender to add to her unreal attacking skills. Nikita is a good sub for Lessi, working the defenders and they start to tire. Portugal are top of the group with 4 to play. England have a double header with Belgium up next. We’ll see you at Wembley for Portugal on matchday 5. Up for grabs is a place in the Nations League final. Failing that,we might see the return of the Arnold Clark Cup in the spring next year.

POTM: LJ had a great game creating chances from nothing. Just shame she couldn’t get a goal. And the new tracking back superpower.

Ref: She could have done worse. She did give a bit too much leeway to some of the big name Spanish players. She didn’t seem to enjoy the constructive feedback provided by Nikita.

Basil watch: Met him at the bottom of the Wembley Park stadium steps.

Scran’O’meter was pleased to seethe pick’n’mix price hasn’t gone up. Bottle tops can be taken in on empty bottles but Pepsi came with lids on. Some progress but no consistency🤷.

Love Tranmerekat 🐾