Mary Earps receives high praise for Lionesses’ win against Austria | OneFootball

Manchester United keeper, Mary Earps, shone yesterday for England in their World Cup qualifier against Austria.

The Lionesses went 1-0 up in the 39th minutes as Ellen White latched onto the end of a rebounded Fran Kirby shot in her 100th appearance for her country.

England have won all five of their qualifiers without conceding however this was their most difficult test as Austria responded.

Earps pulled off two world class saves to keep a clean sheet for England and her heroics didn’t go unnoticed by manager, Sarina Wiegman.

“Those two saves were difference-makers,” Wiegman said. “It was 1-0 and she keeps the score at 1-0. That’s so important.”

“In the moment when there are these shots she has to be concentrated and explosive in this action. She can make the difference and she did.”

Earps confidence has grown at club level since her return to international football and no doubt last night’s match will have given her a further boost.

Temperatures dropped below zero at the Stadium of Light as England held on.

The Lionesses have maintained a 100% record in qualifying and Wiegman said she was proud of the progress they have made together.

“The players who have come in have had such a history. The team has performed well in history already so we have very good players. We just added some details and some principles in the game and it really fits at the moment.”

Other Reds on the team sheet included Katie Zelem and Lessi Russo who were unused subs whilst Ella Toone started the game.

England will host Latvia in Doncaster on Tuesday in their next qualifier whilst in February they will host a round-robin competition featuring Germany and Spain.