England Lionesses play out goal-less draw in World Cup warm-up game in Milton Keynes

England Lionesses played out a 0-0 with Portugal in Milton Keynes on Saturday as they prepare for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

In front of another packed Stadium MK crowd, Sarina Wiegman’s side, who were without injured city skipper Leah Williamson, were unable to break down the staunch Portuguese defence.

Second-half substitute Alessia Russo came closest to opening the scoring but saw her effort cleared off the line in the second-half, while Georgia Stanway also saw a header hit the bar on the hour-mark.

“We're disappointed not to score,” said Wiegman afterwards. “We saw a lot of differences between the first and second-half.

“We were too slow in the first-half, and had too many players behind the ball. We did a little better in the second-half with players higher, the ball tempo was higher, but we spent too long on the ball at times too.

“We created a lot of chances, but the number of chances doesn't always say much, but we should have scored.”

It was a decent result though for the Portuguese, who are heading to their first ever World Cup competition.

The reigning European champions will play a behind-closed-doors game with Canada before they head to Australia and New Zealand for the World Cup, which will get underway later this month.

The Lionesses’ first game kicks off on Saturday July 22 against Haiti, taking on Denmark (July 28) and China (August 1).