The Lionesses opened the scoring on Tyneside through Beth Mead but Elisa De Almeida soon levelled matters for France. Marie-Antoinette Katoto went on to net the winning goal for the visitors in the second half.

When speaking to the media after the match, England forward Hemp said that the team were disappointed to lose, however, they have an immediate opportunity to right the wrongs in the reverse fixture on Tuesday night.

“Obviously, we are very disappointed with the result,” Hemp said. “I thought we dominated at points in the game but we are disappointed to have conceded from two set-pieces, so we will look back at them and rectify it for Tuesday.

“We have the chance to now make up for that. It’s nice that we get to play them again and hopefully, it’ll be a different result.”

England troubled France with their dangerous low balls across the box in the first half but they failed to create the same trouble and panic in the second period. Hemp admitted that Les Bleues found The Lionesses out as the game went on.

She said “We tried to get it in the box. Millie [Bright] went up at the end and we tried to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. There were moments that we couldn’t do that and France found that out and found our strengths, got in the way of some of the crosses.”

With three matches remaining in the first qualification round, everything is still to play for. Hemp said that the spirit in the England camp remains high and that they will travel to France for the return fixture with plenty of confidence.

She said “We are still very positive. It’s hard not to be disappointed by that result but we’ve got a lot of time to turn it around. The full focus is now on recovery.

“We are still a very positive group; we know we have so much depth in the squad and so much competition. We know that we can bounce back quickly and go and win on Tuesday.”

England’s next UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 qualifier against France takes place in Saint-Étienne at 8pm on Tuesday evening.