Mead finishes slick England move to put them ahead against Spain
An improved England defeated Spain with goals from Beth Mead and Ellen White in their World Cup warm-up match in Swindon.
Arsenal's Mead slid in to net the opener from White's first-time cross, shortly before the break.
Just 40 seconds after half-time, White's clinical finish doubled the lead, before Spain hit back through Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati.
The hosts, responding well to Friday's defeat by Canada in Manchester, held on to an entertaining, technically high-quality friendly in front of 13,449 at the County Ground.
England have two more warm-up games to come before the World Cup finals in France - where Phil Neville's side will be among the favourites.
He made nine changes to his team from Friday's defeat, with only Rachel Daly and Toni Duggan keeping their places in the starting side.
The majority of Neville's changes were seemingly experimental, but at least two were enforced, with captain Steph Houghton absent with a groin strain and goalkeeper Carly Telford withdrawn after suffering concussion in training.
Having rarely had the ball in an unsure opening 10 minutes, England grew into the first half and began to look very dangerous on the counter attack, with Mead being denied by a close-range save not long before her opener.
And after Birmingham City striker White's well-taken second, the Lionesses, who are ranked third in the world, looked confident enough to add to their tally.
But Spain, who are ranked 13th in the world, responded well after a swathe of second-half substitutions from both sides.
In the first hour, England had made it difficult tactically for the visitors to turn their vast possession in to chances, but Spain pulled a goal back after a skilful move in which they passed their way through a static Lionesses defence.
There was almost a late equaliser, after substitute keeper Mary Earps rushed out of her penalty area and unfortunately slipped, but Bonmati was unable to hit the target from range, as the hosts' defence scrambled back behind the Wolfsburg stopper to cover her.
More to follow.
