Beth Mead named as England Women's Player of the Year

Beth Mead of England runs with the ball while under pressure from Crystal Dunn of United States (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The Arsenal Women’s forward has started the WSL season on top form, following up her Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards as the Lionesses won the Euro 2022 title during the summer.

Proud dad Richard said: “Beth has started the new season with the same mindset as last year, and it’s good to see that she has had a great start to the season.

"As she often says you are only as good as the players you play with and she is playing and training with some of the best players in the world at both club and international level.

“It’s a great honour for her to be voted as the England player of the year because it is voted for by the fans who have watched her journey throughout the season.”

The Hinderwell hot-shot helped England defeat World champions USA on Friday night at Wembley, as her first-half cross was not dealt with and Hemp was able to net from close range for the Lionesses opener.

After the visitors had levelled through the impressive Sophia Smith, USA sub Hailie Mace was shown a yellow card when her high boot caught Lucy Bronze in the face, leading to a penalty which Stanway put away to restore England's lead.

And VAR twice came to England's rescue when Trinity Rodman's finish was ruled out after Smith was inches offside in the build-up, a late penalty also being overturned by the video assistant as the ball was correctly adjudged to have hit Rachel Daly on the back and not her hand as the referee had originally decided.

Mead came on at half-time in the friendly 0-0 draw at Brighton’s Amex Stadium against The Czech Republic, which ended England’s 15-match winning run.

The result, in front of a 21,222 crowd, meant England failed to win for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Spain in February, while the Czechs extended their unbeaten run to four matches.