Beth Mead says her third England hat-trick in six months shows her confidence has been restored. The goals came after she was dropped from the national team and the Team GB Olympic squad and Mead believes she has “channelled my disappointment in the correct way”.
After England’s 10-0 defeat of North Macedonia in Skopje on Friday, she said: “I never thought I would have scored a hat-trick in all these qualifiers. We can let these things break us or we can use them as motivation and I think it motivated me this season to do better on and off the pitch. I can control what I’m doing and enjoy my football. Hopefully that’s showing on the pitch. I’m confident and that’s really showing.”
Mead said not flying to Tokyo was a blow but she is using the setback to help recover her best form in an England shirt. “I’m in between,” she said. “I’m over it, but I can also still try and use it in the right way to motivate me.
“There were a lot of question over that decision, but I have to accept that, swallow it. Some people can let it affect them but I’ve used it in the right way and I’m getting the rewards of it.”
Part of that uplift has come because the new manager, Sarina Wiegman, has helped her this season. “I’ve come into this season and played with confidence, not overthought my game too much,” said Mead. “I know I have the capabilities to be a good player and do good things on the pitch. Last season I maybe got into my head a bit too much and Sarina has settled me, given me confidence, starts in some games, and I’ve really relished playing under her.”
Mead has further benefited from Lauren Hemp’s blistering work on the opposite flank, which was evident against North Macedonia. “It’s super nice to play with Lauren and Ellen [White] up top,” said Mead.
“Lauren can beat any full-back in the world and sometimes you know if you get in the box she’ll produce a good cross or a good effort and you get on the rebound. A couple of them happened today and that’s why I got on the end of them – her positive play sometimes becomes my positive play.”
Her first goal started with a Hemp cross Mead slammed into the roof of the net at the far post after White struggled to connect. Her third came from another Hemp cross and her fourth was poked in after the goalkeeper, Viktorija Panchurov, parried a Hemp shot. Mead’s second was a neat, dinked effort over Panchurov that slipped inside the far post just ahead of the waiting White.
The Arsenal forward walked into the press conference clutching a match ball. She was flanked by Ella Toone who held another match ball after her second hat-trick in the same period, having made her senior debut in February 2021. “It’s so good to share this moment with Beth,” said Toone, whose second goal came after Mead knocked the ball down to her unmarked in the middle.
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England travel to Belfast to play Northern Ireland at a sold-out Windsor Park on Tuesday. The hosts, ranked 46th in the world, will provide a tougher test than North Macedonia, ranked 132nd, and give the Lionesses a flavour of the challenge they will face in this summer’s Euros, with Northern Ireland also in Group A.
If they win in Belfast and Austria fail to beat Latvia, England will qualify for next year’s finals in Australia and New Zealand with two games to spare.