England are firmly in control of their Women's World Cup play-off after goals from Georgia Stanway, Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo secured a 3-1 first-leg win over Greece at the Pankritio Stadium in Crete on Friday night.

Stanway broke the deadlock six minutes before half-time, Le Tissier thumped in her first England goal shortly after the hour and Russo added a third four minutes later, leaving Sarina Wiegman's side with a two-goal cushion to carry into Tuesday's second leg at King Power Stadium in Leicester.

Kallisti Brouksair — who plays her club football in Scotland with Rangers — pulled one back for the world No 58 with 13 minutes to play, but substitute Jess Park's stoppage-time strike against the underside of the crossbar suggested the Lionesses have considerably more firepower in reserve for the return.

James denied, Greece rattled the bar

England started on the front foot, with Stanway dragging a low shot wide of the left post and Laura Blindkilde Brown scuffing a tame effort straight at Greece goalkeeper Rafailia-Dimitra Petaloti, before Keira Walsh's powerful drilled drive was pushed away. In the 20th minute, Lauren James thought she had opened the scoring, latching onto Stanway's throughball to dink an exquisite finish over Petaloti from 30 yards — only for a VAR check to rule the goal out for offside.

Greece, who went through their League C qualifying campaign with a 100% win record, nearly stunned the European champions when Ioanna Papatheodorou twisted and turned past Esme Morgan before cracking a shot against Hannah Hampton's crossbar from 35 yards.

The breakthrough arrived in the 39th minute as a slick England move exploited the pockets in Greece's defence: Blindkilde Brown slipped the ball into Russo, who laid it square for Stanway to poke home. It was the midfielder's fifth goal of the qualifying campaign — more than any other player in the England squad — and means she has now scored against 23 different nations for her country.

Key moments in Crete

• 12' — Keira Walsh's attempted lob from 18 yards has too much on it and lands on the roof of the net.
• 20' — GOAL RULED OUT! James chips Petaloti from 30 yards but is flagged offside after a VAR check.
• 34' — Papatheodorou runs past Esme Morgan and pings a 35-yard shot against the crossbar.
• 39' — GOAL! Blindkilde Brown pops the ball into Russo, who squares for Stanway to give England the lead.
• 63' — GOAL! Le Tissier thumps in from an angle for her first England goal after seeing two earlier shots parried.
• 67' — GOAL! Beth Mead skips past two challenges and squares for Russo to fire into the bottom corner.
• 77' — GOAL! Papatheodorou squares for Brouksair, whose neat footwork and low finish gives Greece hope.

Le Tissier and Russo settle it in four minutes

Le Tissier forced a sharp stop from Petaloti early in the second half before finding space on the right of the box and, from the angle, beating the goalkeeper for power in the 63rd minute to open her England account. Four minutes later, Mead was unselfish after skipping past two challenges, squaring for Russo to arrow a pinpoint effort into the bottom corner as England swiftly took the game away from their hosts.

Greece burst back into life late on, Papatheodorou squaring for Brouksair, whose neat footwork in the box and low shot across goal into the bottom-right corner gave the underdogs hope — but Park's stoppage-time effort against the underside of the bar, bouncing the wrong side of the line, was a sign that Wiegman's side have more in their arsenal.

Wiegman: 'We still have things to work on'

"I think at moments we played really well. We started well; they started very aggressively too, but we stayed calm. That's what I'm most pleased with," England boss Sarina Wiegman told ITV. "I think we have a couple of things to work on too. At moments in the game, we weren't tight enough. The ball wasn't moving quickly enough, especially when we got the ball a lot in the pockets and higher up the pitch. We need to be tighter and more aligned because, with the opportunities we created, we could have scored so many more goals. Sometimes we were offside, so I think those are things we have to work on. And, of course, I'm not happy with the goal we conceded."

Wiegman was also delighted for Le Tissier: "There were more positives, Maya's goal was one of them. She's really improving her game at club level and, with us, she's more comfortable. She covered a lot of space. Of course, she had to defend, but at the same time she played in attack really high up the pitch. It's really nice that she got to the far post, had a great shot and scored a goal."

Dominance made to count

England were utterly dominant throughout: 26 shots worth 2.07 expected goals (xG), seven of them on target, and 58 touches in the opposition box, with Petaloti keeping her team in the game for long spells. Greece, by contrast, mustered just 0.16 xG and scored with their only shot on target — a wobble for England in the final 15 minutes, but nothing that alters the overall picture of the tie.

The Lionesses also stretched their remarkable record of never losing to an opponent they are facing for the very first time, now unbeaten in 42 such fixtures (35 wins, 7 draws).

The road to Brazil 2027

England were forced into the play-offs after finishing level on 15 points with world champions Spain at the top of their qualifying group but being edged out on head-to-head record following a 4-0 defeat to their rivals. The play-off route is familiar territory — the Lionesses are now aiming to use that path to reach a major tournament for a fifth time — and Wiegman, who brushed off questions over her expiring England contract in the build-up by insisting she was "just focusing on Greece and hopefully the World Cup", has her side one step closer.

Speaking before Friday's first leg, James had insisted England could not dwell on what went before, saying they must have "no regrets" and that "we can't change what happened" as the two-legged tie decided their World Cup fate.

The reward for the winners is a round-two meeting with Slovakia or Ukraine, with a place at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil at stake. First, England must finish the job in Leicester on Tuesday — and on this evidence, they will head there full of confidence despite the late concession.