ShareEngland put themselves in a strong position in their first Women's World Cup play-off, with a big win over Greece at Pankritio Stadio.Quickfire goals from Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo helped secure England a 3-1 win over Greece in the first leg of their Women's World Cup play-off semi-final.Georgia Stanway broke the deadlock for the European champions in the first half before Le Tissier and Russo added to their tally just after the hour-mark.Greece set up a slightly nervy ending when Kallisti Brouksair pulled one back, but Sarina Wiegman's side held onto a two-goal cushion to take to King Power Stadium for the second leg on Tuesday. England started well, with Stanway dragging a low shot wide of the left post and Laura Blindkilde Brown scuffing a tame shot straight at Rafailia-Dimitra Petaloti.Moments later, the space opened up for Keira Walsh just outside the box, though her powerful drilled effort was pushed away by Petaloti.James had the ball in the back of the net in the 19th minute, latching onto Stanway's throughball before dinking a lovely finish over Petaloti after spotting the goalkeeper off her line. However, it was ruled out following a VAR check as James was offside.Ioanna Papatheodorou gave England a scare, dancing her way through their half before taking aim from range, only to hit the corner of the goal frame.Stanway then broke the deadlock six minutes before half-time, with a slick England move exploiting the pockets in Greece's defence as Russo teed up her Arsenal team-mate for a poked finish.Le Tissier forced a sharp stop from Petaloti to spark the second half into life before finding space on the right of the box and, from the angle, beat the goalkeeper for power to score her first England goal in the 63rd minute.Beth Mead dragged wide moments after the restart, but was unselfish when she got the ball in the 67th minute, skipping past two challenges to tee up Russo for a pinpoint effort.Greece burst back into life in the later stages, with Papatheodorou squaring it back to Brouksair, who sent her low shot across goal into the bottom-right corner 77 minutes in.England kept pushing for a fourth towards the end, and substitute Jess Park powered her strike against the underside of the bar, though it bounced the wrong side of the goal line.England make their dominance countEngland enjoyed a largely successful World Cup qualifying campaign, but it was a 4-0 defeat to world champions Spain that proved costly.With a place in next year's tournament on the line, though, England made a strong start to their play-off campaign as they aim to use that path to a major tournament for a fifth time.Greece had an impressive record of their own in qualifying, having gone through their League C campaign with a 100% win record, and they showed their fight until the end to ensure they got a goal on the board.The Lionesses were utterly dominant, having 26 shots worth 2.07 expected goals (xG), with seven of those on target as Petaloti kept her team in the game for large parts. England also had 58 touches in the opposition box.Greece, by contrast, mustered just 0.16 xG and scored with their only shot on target, giving England a worry in the final 15 minutes to cut the deficit ahead of the second leg.Stanway got the scoring going, meaning she has now scored against 23 different nations for England and has netted five goals during their qualifying campaign – more than any other player in the team. The Lionesses have now gone unbeaten in their last 42 fixtures when facing an opponent for the very first time (W35 D7), and Wiegman will be hoping for a similar performance next week.England put themselves in a strong position in their first Women's World Cup play-off, with a big win over Greece at Pankritio Stadio.Quickfire goals from Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo helped secure England a 3-1 win over Greece in the first leg of their Women's World Cup play-off semi-final.Georgia Stanway broke the deadlock for the European champions in the first half before Le Tissier and Russo added to their tally just after the hour-mark.Greece set up a slightly nervy ending when Kallisti Brouksair pulled one back, but Sarina Wiegman's side held onto a two-goal cushion to take to King Power Stadium for the second leg on Tuesday. England started well, with Stanway dragging a low shot wide of the left post and Laura Blindkilde Brown scuffing a tame shot straight at Rafailia-Dimitra Petaloti.Moments later, the space opened up for Keira Walsh just outside the box, though her powerful drilled effort was pushed away by Petaloti.James had the ball in the back of the net in the 19th minute, latching onto Stanway's throughball before dinking a lovely finish over Petaloti after spotting the goalkeeper off her line. However, it was ruled out following a VAR check as James was offside.Ioanna Papatheodorou gave England a scare, dancing her way through their half before taking aim from range, only to hit the corner of the goal frame.Stanway then broke the deadlock six minutes before half-time, with a slick England move exploiting the pockets in Greece's defence as Russo teed up her Arsenal team-mate for a poked finish.Le Tissier forced a sharp stop from Petaloti to spark the second half into life before finding space on the right of the box and, from the angle, beat the goalkeeper for power to score her first England goal in the 63rd minute.Beth Mead dragged wide moments after the restart, but was unselfish when she got the ball in the 67th minute, skipping past two challenges to tee up Russo for a pinpoint effort.Greece burst back into life in the later stages, with Papatheodorou squaring it back to Brouksair, who sent her low shot across goal into the bottom-right corner 77 minutes in.England kept pushing for a fourth towards the end, and substitute Jess Park powered her strike against the underside of the bar, though it bounced the wrong side of the goal line.England make their dominance countEngland enjoyed a largely successful World Cup qualifying campaign, but it was a 4-0 defeat to world champions Spain that proved costly.With a place in next year's tournament on the line, though, England made a strong start to their play-off campaign as they aim to use that path to a major tournament for a fifth time.Greece had an impressive record of their own in qualifying, having gone through their League C campaign with a 100% win record, and they showed their fight until the end to ensure they got a goal on the board.The Lionesses were utterly dominant, having 26 shots worth 2.07 expected goals (xG), with seven of those on target as Petaloti kept her team in the game for large parts. England also had 58 touches in the opposition box.Greece, by contrast, mustered just 0.16 xG and scored with their only shot on target, giving England a worry in the final 15 minutes to cut the deficit ahead of the second leg.Stanway got the scoring going, meaning she has now scored against 23 different nations for England and has netted five goals during their qualifying campaign – more than any other player in the team. The Lionesses have now gone unbeaten in their last 42 fixtures when facing an opponent for the very first time (W35 D7), and Wiegman will be hoping for a similar performance next week.