England star Stanway jokes chants of Sweet Caroline may need to be put on hold

GEORGIA STANWAY joked Sweet Caroline renditions may need to be momentarily shelved to keep England’s giddy fans calm.

And the rampaging number 10 enjoyed the ‘rough and tumble’ of the Lionesses’ gritty defeat of Austria in their Euros opener.

Victory – which came courtesy of Beth Mead’s first-half strike – saw Sarina Wiegman’s unbeaten battlers go top of their group.

A potentially tricky clash with Norway is up next for them at the Amex following their Theatre of Dreams win.

Of the Old Trafford crowd, player of the match Stanway said: We need that noise at every single game. Bring the noise. It can rattle the opposition.

On England’s unofficial anthem she added: “I think we need to try and delay Sweet Caroline next time because everyone gets a little bit too excited.

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“But we’ll just focus on the next game as this one is done.

“Now it’s time to just spend a little time with our families and focus on recovery time.

“It was kind of a relief when that final whistle went as there were some challenging moments.

“But we’ve got the ball over the white line and points on the board and that’s all that matters.

“I’m fortunate to have been to a few major tournaments and whether that be at youth or senior level.

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“The most important thing that’s drilled into you is getting that first win whether it be for momentum, or points on the board, to put you in a good position.

The Old Trafford clash saw a few full-blooded challenges fly-in, including Keira Walsh floored by her marker in the second spell.

But Stanway, who enjoys the physical side of one-on-one duels, reckons Austria’s tough-tackling approach was her cup of tea.

Stanway added: “I think that’s a bit of me.

“I quite enjoyed the rough and tumble and I’ve got to give it to Austria, they challenged us in areas and put us outside of our comfort zone.

“But they’re the moments that we’ve got to live up to who we are and got to live up to what we’ve been working on.”

England’s display saw them notch up their first major match international win at Old Trafford under Wiegman

The head coach later praised the ‘incredible atmosphere’ created by the 68,871-strong crowd.

It was a very hard technical decision because the players all bring different things that are all good

Sarina Wiegman on leaving Alex Greenwood out against Austria

She said: “Tens of thousands of people making lots of noise, coming behind us, standing behind us. It was really incredible. I hope they’ll keep coming.

Later Wiegman admitted to going through the motions during the VAR check on Mead’s goal.

It was the first the system had ever been used in a Women’s Euros encounter.

The England gaffer added: “I was really happy when I thought it was already in and then I thought, ‘oh, it’s not sure’, but then it was alright and then I was still happy.

On the team’s performance, Wiegman said: “We had some very good moments in the game and we should have scored more.

“But we also had some hard moments which we got through, which was good.

“We had a couple of phases in the game. We started not great, then we got control of the game and pushed them back to their half.

England’s start to their quest for Euros glory saw Alex Greenwood dropped from their line-up.

The decision saw Wiegman opt for a back four of Rachel Daly, Leah Williamson, Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze.

The Lionesses’ chief added: “That was a very hard decision because we have tried a couple of things.

“And in the end, I chose to put the back four that went out.

“Leah, Alex and Rachel have played a lot during the season.

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 “It was a very hard technical decision because they all bring different things that are all good.”

With Norway up next with their dangerous attacking threats including Ada Hegerberg, Guro Reiten and Caroline Graham Hansen, Wiegman wants England to up their game.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk