England Women 0-0 Czech Republic: Lucy Bronze makes her 100th appearance for Lionesses

This may have been destined to be a disappointing night for England.

Brighton is a place that holds special memories for the Lionesses and boss Sarina Wiegman, with their two Euro 2022 games here yielding an 8-0 win over Norway and a thrilling quarter-final against Spain.

A friendly against the Czech Republic, 28th in the world, could never quite live up to those standards, or even last week’s historic victory over the United States at Wembley.

However, Sarina Wiegman’s team was held to a goalless draw during the friendly match

England should have won, but for the third time under Wiegman they did not succeed. This 0-0 draw, which stretches the Lionesses’ unbeaten run to 24 games, will not remain in football’s memory for long.

The Czech Republic came here to frustrate, played a low block and rarely made it to the Lionesses’ half. It worked to perfection. This will be a tactic England may have to deal with more often and will have to learn how to best deal with it.

In any case, it was a special night for Lauren James, who made her full-length debut, and Lucy Bronze, who hit 100 caps.

Lucy Bronze made her 100th appearance for Lionesses in Tuesday’s friendly

This game had a distinct meaning as it was dedicated to ‘Let Girls Play’, the FA’s campaign for every girl to have equal access to football in school and in the community.

Players held positive talks with Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday after the Euro-winning squad wrote an open letter demanding schoolgirls have access to a minimum of two hours of gym per week. They want their victory over the summer to have a lasting impact on the younger generation.

Here, however, there was little for the attendees to get excited about. James almost opened the scoring within five minutes and fired a shot at the post from just inside the penalty area.

The Chelsea forward was the brightest spark in the first half as England had 70 percent possession of the ball but struggled to tear down a stubborn Czech defence. The best chance fell to Chloe Kelly, who shot a shot just wide of the post.

The hosts should have taken the lead just before the hour when Hemp’s chipped effort hit the post and fell to Fran Kirby, but the attacker was unable to get the ball out of her feet when the Czech cleared it.

Wiegman brought in defender Esme Morgan for her debut, while Ebony Salmon also got her chance to impress with her first cap since February last year.

Salmon should perhaps have been given more time on the pitch in this international window. She was in good form for Houston Dash, while Lauren Hemp, who was brilliant against the US, probably could have used some rest.

England continued to question their opponents in the closing stages as Beth Mead forced Lukasova to make a fine stop at the nearest post. The goalkeeper made an even better save to deny Kirby the winning goal as she pushed her looping attempt over the bear.

The Lionesses lacked a clinical touch in the final third and could have done with Alessia Russo in the lead. They should have the striker back for next month’s games against Norway and Japan and based on this evidence they need her.