Jodie Taylor's Brace Leads England Past Switzerland in 2017 Women's Friendly

A brace from Jodie Taylor helped fire England to a comfortable 4-0 friendly road win over Switzerland on Saturday at the Tissot Arena in Biel.

Jordan Nobbs and Fran Kirby gave the Lionesses a deserved half-time lead before Nobbs turned provider for Taylor to strike twice in the second half.

In truth, England could have had several more as they dominated the Swiss for the majority of the contest.

A hard-fought start to the match saw the two sides struggle to create much in the way of clear-cut chances in the opening exchanges, but England notably improved over the course of the first half as Switzerland subsequently got worse.

The Lionesses' first real chance of note came when Demi Stokes picked out Taylor in the box, but Gaelle Thalmann was equal to her header.

Soon after, Kirby came close following a mix-up in the Swiss defence, but she could only hit the bar.

England took the lead with a sublime effort from Nobbs on the edge of the area, via the Lionesses' official Twitter feed:

Buoyed by the goal, England began pressing higher up the field as Switzerland struggled to cope.

Kirby added a superb second when she latched on to a ball upfield and held off a defender before rounding Thalmann:

England made a blistering start to the second half, and they had two more excellent chances to score as they flew out of the traps.

Toni Duggan rattled the post before Kirby forced a save from Thalmann just moments later, so it was of little surprise that manager Mark Sampson's side struck for a third time just four minutes into the half.

Nobbs advanced down the right before offloading it to Taylor, who picked out the bottom corner from the edge of the area:

Switzerland came close in a rare foray upfield when Fabienne Humm almost hooked the ball in from the byline on the right, but Karen Bardsley had the effort covered as it hit the post.

Taylor struck again after Nobbs picked her out on the right, this time sweeping home her low cross from the byline:

A flurry of substitutions shortly after interrupted the flow of the game somewhat in the latter stages, but the Lionesses held on comfortably.

Football writer Sophie Lawson gave her verdict:

England will play Denmark at Gladsaxe Stadium on July 1 in a final friendly ahead of the UEFA Women's Championship this summer.