England earned the respect they deserved after Dutch win - Hemp

FORWARD Lauren Hemp feels England gained the respect they deserved after turning around their Women’s European Championship defence with a resounding group-stage victory over the Netherlands.

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The Lionesses will now reach the quarterfinals with victory over Wales tomorrow night in St Gallen and the mood in camp is decidedly more jovial than it was following their opening loss to France, which had left them in a perilous position.

Even boss Sarina Wiegman admitted she was surprised by Wednesday night's 4-0 scoreline, the product of a full-squad effort increasingly being branded “proper England” football by the Lionesses and their coach.

“It was important that we turned it around and we proved to the fans, we proved to everyone, that we're here to compete and we're here to win,” said Hemp.

“It was a bit of night and day in our performances.

“Unfortunately it didn’t go how we wanted it to, but there were also positives from that (first) game we could have taken.