Women's World Cup 2019: England beat Scotland 2-1

Nikita Parris scored England's first goal during the 2019 Women's World Cup

England have beaten Scotland 2-1 in their opening game of the Women's World Cup.

A penalty spot goal from Nikita Parris put England in the lead, which was followed by another from Ellen White just before the second half.

Scotland - making their World Cup debut - were able to take advantage of a slower second half for England, with Scotland's Claire Emslie scoring following a poor pass from England captain Steph Houghton.

Unfortunately for Scotland, the equaliser never came, but it was a huge improvement on the 6-0 defeat against England at Euro 2017.

Speaking after the game, England manager Phil Neville commented: "It taught us that every game is going to be hard."

"I was pleased with the result. The first game is always the most difficult game."

BBC Sport pundits weren't hugely impressed by the Lionesses.

"Teams will be looking at this and will they be worried about this England performance? I don't think so," said former England international Alex Scott, who played at three World Cups.

Former Chelsea and Scotland winger Pat Nevin was impressed by their opponents, though. "Scotland have a fantastic chance of getting out of their group. Scotland know they can compete now and they'll have learned so much from this match," he said to BBC Radio 5 Live.

England manager Phil Neville said that he was happy with the result

Scotland are currently ranked 20th in the world - 17 positions lower than the England side.

Phil Neville's England will now face Argentina in Le Havre on Friday (8pm) and Scotland's next Group D game sees them take on Japan in Rennes the same day at 2pm.

Japan are ranked seventh in the world, while Argentina are currently placed 37th.