England rout of Russia shows on-field unity but sparks anger from Eni Aluko

England showed they will not be distracted from their goal of reaching France 2019 with an emphatic World Cup qualifying rout of Russia, but off-the-field distractions remain unavoidable for Mark Sampson. The beleaguered England manager received a timely display of unity from his players at Prenton Park, in performance and deed, yet their actions prompted fresh accusations of division.

Nikita Parris sent England on their way to a convincing victory and pointedly celebrated her goal by racing to the dugout to embrace the manager at the centre of allegations of bullying and racism. Every one of her team-mates joined in the throng. Sampson looked sheepish.

Eni Aluko, the player at the centre of the allegations and Football Association investigations, took to Twitter to issue a cutting response of her own. “For the most together team in the world tonight’s ‘message’ only shows a level of disrespect that represents division and selfish action,” she tweeted. Adding: “The same players who unanimously voted me as their representative to discuss the teams central contracts with the FA. A benefit for all.”

Lianne Sanderson, who claimed she was dropped after 50 appearances with England for raising a grievance with Sampson, also said of the celebration on social media: “I’m actually lost for words and feel physically sickened by all of this. They successfully manipulated the players into a them against us.” Another Sanderson tweet read: “See you October @ the House of Commons” – a reference to the date when senior FA executives are expected to be questioned by the government’s culture, media and sport select committee over the initial investigation into Aluko’s claims.

The tweets diverted from an otherwise impressive night for England and were met with another retort from Parris, the Liverpool-born Manchester City forward who revelled in scoring in front of at least 15 members of her family at the home of Tranmere Rovers.

“My response is I can’t celebrate on behalf of Eni or anyone else,” she said. “I can only celebrate for myself and how I feel in that moment. I’m not here to disrespect anyone. I am just happy to score for England. It is not easy to score for anyone. It came naturally [the celebration]. I wanted to show that we are a united team. The whole team. Obviously we know the situation that’s been happening in the media and I felt it was important to get my point across. I wasn’t in the squad at the time but it was important to show the whole team feels that way.”

The celebration was welcomed by the England manager, who praised his team’s show of “togetherness and hard-working performance”, but the fallout removed some of the gloss from an otherwise encouraging night against a Russia team reduced to 10 players after 31 minutes.

Parris opened the scoring when she received the first of several incisive passes from Fran Kirby and beat the goalkeeper Tatyana Shcherbak with a low, measured shot into the far corner. Within three minutes England had doubled their advantage thanks to another assist from the excellent Kirby. The Chelsea playmaker easily rolled Ksenia Tsybutovich before piercing the defence with a precision pass into Jodie Taylor. The former Tranmere Rovers striker, who never played for the club at Prenton, marked her first appearance at the stadium with a cool finish.

Tsybutovich’s night deteriorated rapidly thereafter. Booked for a clumsy challenge, the central defender was sent off for a second bookable offence moments later when she was adjudged to have deliberately handled a Kirby shot inside the penalty area. Kirby took the resulting spot-kick but a tame effort down the centre of Shcherbak’s goal was her poorest touch of an otherwise commanding first half, and the visiting keeper saved comfortably.

England would make their numerical advantage tell, however. Jordan Nobbs sent a fine finish inside the keeper’s left-hand post from 12 yards after Demi Stokes, Toni Duggan and Kirby combined well. Shcherbak saved from a Lucy Bronze header and a Duggan shot but was powerless to prevent Bronze scoring a fourth seconds before the interval. Controlling Elena Morozova’s headed clearance from a corner on the edge of the area, the Lyon defender swept an unstoppable half volley into the top corner.

Duggan delivered another quality finish, one the Barcelona striker’s contribution merited, to give England a five-goal lead early in the second half. Bronze and Kirby combined to prise apart Russia’s rearguard and when the defender cut the ball back from the right, Duggan curled an emphatic shot into the top corner from 20 yards. The former Manchester City striker sealed the convincing victory late on when volleying into an empty net following a sliced clearance inside the Russian defence.