'She just wanted to give me a yellow card for fun' - England star Lucy Bronze snubs referee handshake and fumes about decisions as Lionesses' thrash China in Women's World Cup

• Bronze penalised for handball in win over China
• Also called offside to deny James a goal
• England would win 6-1 to reach last 16

WHAT HAPPENED? The Lionesses ran out 6-1 victors against the Asian champions, securing their spot in the Women's World Cup last 16 as a result. But Bronze complained about being flagged offside in the build-up to a disallowed goal for Lauren James and then having a penalty given against her for handball in the second half, one which spoiled England's clean sheet and saw her go into referee Casey Reibelt's book. Footage at full-time appeared to show Bronze snubbing a handshake with Reibelt, too.

WHAT THEY SAID: "[I'm] sad for LJ because I don’t know why it’s been called for offside," she told reporters. "I said that to the referee, 'I don’t know why you’ve given me offside'. Personally I had more go against me than anyone else. It wasn’t a fun game in that respect, the referee for me. So, I was quite disappointed with that game to come off with that performance. The most important thing is we won, we’re through to the next game, no one else got injured.

"I knew [the ball] hit my hand [for the penalty] but it wasn’t deliberate. Unless I cut my arm off I don’t know how I get my arm out the way. If I was trying to hit the ball away I would have hit my hand in the air. I knew it wasn’t deliberate but I guess she just wanted to give me a yellow card for fun.

"Playing for England you tend to know that sometimes decisions don’t go your way and luckily enough for us we finished the game off ourselves. I do think LJ’s goal should have stood, she should have had a hat-trick, it would have been a huge moment for her, in her first World Cup to score a hat-trick for England."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Despite some contentious decisions, England were comfortable all evening in Adelaide, getting off to a quick start when Alessia Russo broke the deadlock after four minutes. By the end, James, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly had all put their names on the scoresheet as the Lionesses topped Group D to set up a last 16 clash with Nigeria.

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WHAT NEXT? England have a five-day break now until their last 16 clash with Nigeria, taking on the Super Falcons in Brisbane on August 7.