Beth Mead says scoring a hat-trick in a home Euros was ‘beyond her dreams’ as England thrash Norway 8-0

The Group A match at Brighton’s Amex Stadium was expected to be a close affair, but the Lionesses rubbished that theory within the first half-an-hour, going 3-0 up and ending the game as a contest.

They barely took their foot off the gas thereafter either, running in five more goals to leave Norway broken in body and spirit long before the final whistle.

The victory secured England’s place in the tournament’s quarter-finals with one group game to spare.

Speaking to BBC Sport afterwards, Mead said: “I keep saying it but I can’t put it into words.

“I’m just loving being here, loving being part of this team and enjoying every minute.

“It feels like I’m in the form of my life. I keep saying I’m really enjoying my football. It’s an incredible feeling to feel how I do right now.

“I don’t think I even dreamt of this [scoring a hat-trick in a home Euros]. I’m just so happy I can get the goals again to help the team.

“It’s an unbelievable night. I haven’t even thought about the Golden Boot, I just want to get goals for my team to help us win.

“The girls need to enjoy this one. We need to enjoy the moment.”

England boss Sarina Wiegman was similarly incredulous about the way the game unfolded.

She said: “It was a very special night. We didn’t expect to make such a big win but we played really well. We really exploited their weaknesses and we’re really happy, but at the same time it’s just one game. We’ll enjoy the moment but we’ll stay really grounded.

“‘What’s going on here?’ That was going through my mind. Norway didn’t have the answers. We created chances, scored goals and it was very enjoyable to watch.

“Games can go really strange. We’ve seen so many games when it’s 3-0 and goes to 3-3, but when it went to 4-0 and 5-0 I thought they’re not going to recover from this.

“Norway didn’t have the best game today. We’re really happy with the performance. We showed how good we are. When we go through [from the group stage] we’ll get tested at a higher level. We need to do better every game.

“We really showed our qualities. The fans have been really nice again, almost 30,000 of them. We just need to enjoy that moment, relax a little bit then start preparing for the next game.”