For the majority of England's 2-1 defeat to France on Saturday, there were very few positives for the Lionesses to pick out. Defensively, the reigning champions were awful, with the scoreline flattering them in that sense, and it took until the 87th minute, when Keira Walsh found the back of the net, for them to register a shot on target. This was not the sort of performance that Sarina Wiegman and her side wanted to start their European Championship title defence with.
England's first 20 minutes or so were good, with that period including an Alessia Russo goal which was disallowed for the narrowest of offsides, and the way they ended the match was positive, after some late substitutes started to make an impact. One of those was Grace Clinton, who entered the fray with 13 minutes to go, and another was Michelle Agyemang, brought on in the 86th minute.
With so little time remaining, the 19-year-old hardly had much to work with in terms of making her mark - and yet, on just her second senior international appearance, she brought qualities to the table that troubled France plenty and showed why, moving forward, she deserves to be used much more, especially if the Lionesses want to avoid becoming the first holders in competition history to go out in the group stage.