England beat Greece 3-1 in Crete to take first-leg lead in World Cup play-off

England beat Greece 3-1 in Heraklion, Crete on Friday night in the first leg of their Women's World Cup qualifying play-off, giving the Lionesses a useful first-leg lead.

Sarina Wiegman's team, who are back-to-back European champions, must navigate the play-offs after finishing runners-up in their qualification group as they pursue a place in Brazil next year. The victory in Crete was England's third win in their past eight competitive away games and will be followed by a second leg against Greece at Leicester on Tuesday (19:30 BST).

Lucy Bronze withdrew from the squad earlier this week with a minor injury, opening the door for Manchester United captain Maya le Tissier to start at right-back rather than at centre-back as she plays for United. Making her 15th cap, Le Tissier scored her first international goal in the 63rd minute. "As soon as we were in possession, she was higher on the pitch and she already came close to a couple of moments with crosses," said Wiegman. "I'm very happy for her and for the whole team because that was an important goal."

England conceded once after defensive lapses created openings for Greece, with Ioanna Papatheodorou hitting the crossbar in the first half before teeing up Kallisti Brouksair for their goal. Those chances came from England errors and the lack of a clean sheet leaves opportunities for Greece in the return leg. "That's up to us. We have to show up on Tuesday, play a good game and then we should be better than Greece," said Wiegman. "Of course we want to take some more distance [in the scoreline], that's absolutely true, but at the same time we won and that's the most important thing. "Sometimes we played really well and sometimes we were a bit sloppy. We were a bit frustrated as we wanted to do that better. "We want to show more than winning, we want to play really well too."

With the tie effectively settled, Wiegman handed debuts to 18-year-old Erica Meg Parkinson and to Liverpool captain Grace Fisk, who had waited more than six years for her first England appearance after receiving her first call-up in 2020. Parkinson, who was unexpectedly named in the senior squad in March after recently progressing to England's Under-23s, joined North Carolina Courage from Valadares Gaia in the summer and came on in the 85th minute. "She's a really intelligent player. She has incredibly good movement and timing, picking up pockets for players to find her," said Esme Morgan. "She's really comfortable receiving [the ball] in tight spaces, she's strong holding off players, very aggressive in her tackling and wins back a lot of balls. "I've been really impressed with Erica since she came into camp and also from playing against her in the National Women's Soccer League."

The manager continued to experiment with the number 10 role, giving Chelsea forward Lauren James a creative, free role in Crete; James lobbed goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti from 30 yards in the first half but the effort was ruled out for offside. Other players considered for the position included Manchester City's Grace Clinton and Manchester United's Ella Toone, who were recalled to cover injuries with Aston Villa's Lucia Kendall among those to drop out. Laura Blindkilde Brown started in that position alongside James in Crete, while Beth Mead and Jess Park have also played there. "I see there is a lot of competition in that position, where we have a lot of options with different players, who have different qualities," said Wiegman. "You can call it a question mark but I call it many options. Today we had two 10s and sometimes three. [James] was one of them."

Local media questioned why the match was not staged in Athens, and fewer than 4,000 spectators attended the 26,000-capacity stadium in Heraklion, creating an unusually sparse atmosphere. England, who finished runners-up to world champions Spain in their qualifying group, lacked ruthlessness at times despite controlling large portions of the game. Georgia Stanway, described in the report as this year's top scorer for England, opened the scoring after a neat, incisive passing move that provided the breakthrough in a frustrating first half. "I think we made it a bit harder. Greece were well prepared and disciplined. We struggled when they tried to press us," added Wiegman. "We could have scored more than the three goals. There are lots of things to take. I have seen some fluid moments but I want more. "The final ball, final cross and the positions can be better. Of course, we are working on that. We have an opportunity to improve that on Tuesday."

England must complete the tie against Greece at Leicester on Tuesday (19:30 BST), with the winner of the two-legged play-off set to face either Ukraine or Slovakia in round two to decide who will head to Brazil.