Lauren James scores her first goal in a major tournament – Credit: @Lionesses

The Lionesses made it two wins from two in the FIFA Women’s World Cup to all but seal their place in the knockout stages with a 1-0 victory over Denmark.

Lauren James netted the only goal of the game with six minutes on the clock as the Lionesses dominated for large periods of the first half.

Sarina Wiegman has shown in previous tournaments her reluctancy to change her team, as shown when she didn’t make a single change to her starting XI in last year’s European Championships.

However, this hypothesis was scrapped as she made two changes – Lauren James replaced Lauren Hemp and Rachel Daly came in for Jess Carter.

The Lionesses were on top from the off and six minutes in, James, in her first major tournament appearance, elegantly placed her effort into the corner from outside the box after being given the freedom of Sydney by the Denmark defenders.

The Chelsea forward came close once again on the 20-minute mark, but her shot went straight into the hands of Lene Christensen.

Denmark struggled to match England’s first-half intensity but their first chance came four minutes later – Rikke Madsen exquisitely turned Alex Greenwood but she didn’t have the finish to match.

England’s midfield maestro Kiera Walsh was stretched off just before half-time to add to the growing injury concerns for Wiegman – she was replaced by Laura Coombs.

‘De rød-hvide’ were growing into the game and Kathrine Møller Kühl shot straight into the hands of Mary Earps five minutes into the second half.

With 20 minutes remaining, Alessia Russo nearly doubled their lead when she charged at the opposing defence but her powerful effort edged wide.

Denmark came close to an equaliser with four minutes left as the substitutes combined – Nicoline Sørensen set-up Amalie Vangsgaard whose header rattled the post.

A late Denmark surge resulted in no breakthrough for Lars Søndergaard’s side as the Lionesses held on for a second group win.

It was an improvement on the Haiti win, but they certainly need to be stronger heading into the knockout stages. There remains one final group game as the Lionesses lock horns with China on Tuesday.

England: Earps, Bronze, Bright, Greenwood, Daly, Toone (Hemp 76’), Walsh (Coombs 37’), Stanway, James, Russo (England 76’), Kelly

Denmark: Christensen, Sevecke, Ballisager (Thøgersen 77’), Sørensen, Veje, Hasbo (Vangsgaard 70’), Holmgaard, Kühl, Thomsen, Harder, Madsen (N.Sørensen 77’)