Germany 0-1 England

THE LIONESSES bagged their biggest-ever win on Saturday night with an extra-time penalty against Germany to scoop World Cup bronze.

The side’s first-ever victory over Die Nationalelf — at the 21st time of asking — was the best England performance at a World Cup since 1966.

Despite the disparity on the record sheet, England matched their opponents throughout the 90 minutes and Farah Williams finally opened the scoring with a dreaded shoot-out just 12 minutes away after Tabea Kemme brought down Lianne Sanderson in the area.

But the Lionesses could have gone down behind in the first minute were it not for the reactions of keeper Karen Bardsley.

Skipper Step Houghton was in action at both ends, making an acrobatic goal-mouth clearance before just fluffing her lines outside the opposing six-yard box, allowing Nadine Angerer a routine save after Lucy Bronze provided a golden opportunity.

England resolutely weathered German pressure while also managing to have periods in the ascendancy and a few chances to win the match.

The first half of extra time was cagey but Germany forced the England back five into action on a couple of occasions before the breakthrough two minutes after the sides changed ends.

North Korean ref Ri Hyang Ok pointed to the spot after Sanderson was held back by Kemme and Williams cooly slotted the ball low to the keeper’s right.

Germany hounded England up to the final whistle but the Lionesses held out.

Manager Mark Sampson hailed his “awesome” group of players.

“I don’t know where they get it from, they find a way to dig deep,” he told BBC Three.

“We said before the game, life’s horrible, it’s really tough sometimes, you get a kick in the teeth just when you think you’ve made it and wow did we get a kick in the teeth in our semi-final.

“But we wanted to show the world today that everyone has tough times but dust yourselves down, pick yourselves back up and go again.”

Williams added: “Our performance today against the European champions showed we’re all together, how strong we are.”