Bethany England acknowledges the win over Arsenal in pre-season was a ‘step forward’ but says there’s still plenty to work on ahead of our 2025/26 Barclays Women’s Super League opener next month.
It was an eventful game at Meadow Park against our north London rivals, with seven goals between the two sides, and our number nine was at the heart of our impressive win against our north London rivals.
Earning her first start in pre-season, Bethany grabbed the equaliser in the first half before getting us back on level terms in the second period, calmly converting from the penalty spot, to inspire us to a 4-3 victory after further goals from Matilda Vinberg and Eveliina Summanen.
While we secured our first win under Head Coach Martin Ho following an improved second half display, the experienced forward spoke about the importance of learning from the ‘silly mistakes’ as we continue to build towards the WSL opener against West Ham.
“We started slow, I didn’t think in the first half we got up to the level we wanted to be at and we knew we could do better,” she told SPURSPLAY. “[In the] second half, we really came out, got aggressive, got in their faces, and got the goals back.
“Look, they’re champions. I know it wasn’t their full-strength team today, but we’re still building and for us, it’s an amazing preseason win and we’ll definitely take that going into our next game.”
Asked about the performance in the second half, she added: “I think we just stopped feeling sorry for ourselves. We recognised where we were going wrong, where they were exploiting us, and we had to cut out silly mistakes.
“In the second half, we made it easier for ourselves, making the right passes, playing quicker, wanting it more, being hungrier, and getting in the fight. That’s exactly what we gave them and thankfully, we came out on top today.
“We’re not delusional. There were parts of the game that were nowhere near good enough, and we’ll get punished in this league on another day, so there’s still plenty to build on.
“But I’m happy. It’s not every day you can come here and beat them. We did ourselves proud in some areas and in others, we know we need to be better, but that’s the point of pre-season, to see where improvements can be made and make sure that when we face West Ham, we’re ready to go.”
Her two goals against the Gunners opened her account in pre-season and, after finishing as our top goalscorer last term with eight goals, Bethany talks about the ‘positive step’ going into the new campaign.
“Every striker wants to score. For me, to get as many minutes as I did today and get on the scoresheet, I’m always proud - whether it’s a friendly or not - to score for this club. It’s definitely a great step forward,” she explained.
“Even seeing Matilda and Eveliina getting on the scoresheet shows we’ve got more than one goalscorer as well. It’s a really positive step on our journey into the new season.”