England 1 v Canada 0 - Women's International

Sunday 7 April 2013
Women’s International
at New York Stadium, Rotherham United FC
England (0) 1
Ellen White 90+3
Canada (0) 0
Admission £5, Programme £3, Attendance 4,875

Unplanned pre match entertainment.
The NYS sprinkler system versus the South Yorkshire Police band.
Home win!

England
1 Karen Bardsley (13 Rachel Brown, 60), 2 Alex Scott, 3 Steph Houghton, 4 Anita Asante (16 Jordan Nobbs, 60), 5 Sophie Bradley, 6 Casey Stoney (C), 7 Eniola Aluko (18 Toni Duggan, 70), 8 Jill Scott, 9 Ellen White, 10 Fara Williams, 11 Rachel Yankey (15 Jess Clarke, 83)
Subs not used - 12 Dunia Susi, 14 Laura Bassett, 19 Gemma Bonner, 20 Rachel Williams, 21 Siobhan Chamberlain, 22 Jade Moore, 23 Kerys Harrop
Canada
1 Erin McLeod, 3 Tiffany Cameron, 4 Carmelina Moscato (10 Lauren Sesselmann, 74), 6 Kaylyn Kyle, 7 Rhian Wilkinson, 8 Diana Matheson, 11 Desiree Scott, 12 Christine Sinclair (C), 13 Sophie Schmidt, 14 Kadeisha Buchanan, 22 Kylla Sjoman
Subs not used - 2 Emily Zurrer, 5 Robyn Gayle, 9 Ashley Lawrence, 15 Adriana Leon, 16 Jonelle Filigno, 17 Jodi-Ann Robinson, 19 Chelsea Stewart, 33 Karina LeBlanc

Congratulations to Rachel Yankey, a great ambassador for women's football in this country, on the occasion of winning her 125th England cap.
A brilliant achievement.
Rachel Yankey won her 125th England cap today, click here to watch her post match reaction

Truth be told, this wasn't exactly what you'd call an afternoon of high drama and first rate entertainment for the 4.875 spectators who'd turned out to the New York Stadium for this friendly game, where two sides cancelled each other out in the middle of the park for the most part.
But possession wise, England shaded the contest and deserved their narrow victory in the end.
Well, just about.
By rule of thumb, International friendly games are seldom exciting and today's game certainly did what it said on the tin.

This was England's second 1-0 victory over Canada in the last few weeks, Rachel Yankey's strike was enough for England to beat today's visitors in the Cyprus Cup Final on 13th March, in Nicosia.
This afternoon Ellen White's header nudged Fara William's shot past the wrong-footed Erin McLeod, to finally break the deadlock in the third minute of stoppage time.

Far more concise match details will doubtless be forthcoming on Adam Barlow's The Mind of an Imp blog in due course, because he was covering the game for Sports International magazine today.
Hope you enjoyed the experience mate and found plenty to write about on your 'big time' sports journalist debut.
Because, to be honest, I'm struggling to fill these few column inches with comment about anything of any note, because clear cut goal scoring opportunities, or pivotal moments were in very short reply throughout..

However, looking on the positive side, it must be said that both England full backs played particularly well, with right back Alex Scott deserving her (wo)man of the match award, while left back Steph Houghton was unlucky not to weigh in with a couple of goals when she got forward to boost the otherwise shot shy attack.
FT - England 1 v Canada 0
For the record ... There is no such thing as a bad England win.
And a 10 game unbeaten run is quite an achievement in itself, so although the game was fairly lacklustre at times, I'm not actually complaining.
The next England women's team game, will be played at Burton Albion FC, on Wednesday 26th June 2013, with a scheduled kick off time of 1.45pm.
In my humble opinion, that is a fairly ludicrous kick off time for a midweek international game ... and now I am complaining.

England score in added time and the Rotherham public 'go wild'.