Arsenal striker Alessia Russo struck twice in four second-half minutes to kick open the floodgates as England beat Ukraine 6-1 in Turkey on Tuesday night [Leiting Gao/SPP]

THE Lionesses will roar back into action at the City Ground in Nottingham tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon when they host Iceland in their second Women’s World Cup qualifier.

England kick-started their campaign for the 2027 showpiece in scintillating style on Tuesday night when they thumped Ukraine 6-1 in Turkey. But an attendance of just 275 supporters were made to wait for the goals as the opening 45 minutes ended 0-0.

Arsenal striker Alessia Russo struck twice in four second-half minutes to kick open the floodgates, before Georgia Stanway chipped in with two more. Jess Park also scored twice to ensure Sarina Wiegman’s side picked up three opening points on their road to the World Cup in Brazil next year.

“There were no tough words [at half-time], because we put a lot of effort in and played the way we wanted to, we just wanted to score more goals,” Wiegman said after the match. “We had shots on goal. I think we had 14 shots on goal but only three on target, so we need to do that better.

“It helped that we swapped our wingers from one side to the other and came inside a little bit. That made it a bit easier for the team.

“At every moment we lost the ball, we were so on it, so that shows the mentality of the team.”