England Women have started their SheBelieves Cup campaign with an emphatic 4-1 win over France Women at the Mapfre Stadium in Ohio, marking Phil Neville's first game in charge in style.
First-half goals from Toni Duggan, Jill Scott and Jodie Taylor were added to in the second half by Fran Kirby, before Gaetane Thiney pulled one back 13 minutes from time.
The Three Lionesses now find themselves in a commanding position at the top of the early standings, while Neville was left smiling come full time following weeks of turmoil in the build-up to his opening match at the helm.
Despite losing some key names to injury for the annual friendly tournament, England - with just one win in their previous two participations - started brightly and were soon rewarded.
Kirby got in an early shot and, with just seven minutes on the clock, Barcelona forward Duggan curled a first-time shot into the corner to give her side the lead.
Taylor then came close with her chipped shot, which came back off the bar, but the second goal of the evening soon arrived as Scott slotted low into the bottom corner following some neat interplay.
Having struggled to keep hold of the ball all half, France soon found themselves three down through a prodded Taylor finish after Nikita Parris played her through.
Les Bleus did have a chance to pull one back before the break, only for Eugenie Le Sommer to send the ball wide, and it took just seconds of the second half for Kirby to completely kill the game off.
The Chelsea forward made the most of Scott's positive play to slot home the fourth goal of the evening.
A sloppy spell in the match followed before France did manage to pull one back, with Thiney leaving Karen Bardsley wrong-footed down the centre.
England could possibly have added to their tally in the remainder of the match, but no further clear-cut chances arrived on what turned out to be a positive first night for Neville.
Daniel Lewis
