Lauren James, who came off the bench in England's opening Group D game against Haiti, made her first World Cup start against Denmark and the talented Blues forward took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase her abilities on the world stage.

Operating on the left side of the attack, it took just six minutes for James to break the deadlock with a brilliant individual goal. She received the ball in a central area just outside the penalty area, advancing into space before curling a perfectly placed right-footed effort into the far corner of the net.

Speaking shortly after the final whistle, James reflected on her maiden World Cup start and the goal which accompanied it. The 21-year-old was delighted to contribute to a positive outcome, and was hopeful about scoring when the ball left her boot.

‘It’s a dream,’ James said. ‘It’s something I’ve been thinking about, but most importantly I am just happy to help the team win. I kind of had a thought, but as soon as it hit the net it was just a relief!’

There was plenty of support and encouragement for James from her team-mates before and after the game. Our forward revealed they were confident that she would have an impact on proceedings and their predictions came to fruition.

‘They were just really happy for me and to be fair, they said before the game they had a feeling about me today. I’m just thankful that I’ve got good people around me.’

James oozes class and is calmness personified. When asked about appearing so relaxed having scored the winning goal in a World Cup fixture, she believes this level-headed approach has proven effective during her early career.

‘I’m calm all around both on and off the pitch. I just try to bring that to my game as well and today it showed and it helped!’