England’s national women’s football team took a big step in the defence of their Cyprus Cup title on Friday after beating Group A rivals Finland 3-0 at the GSZ Stadium in Larnaca.

Mark Sampson’s new-look England side will now head into Monday’s final group match against Canada eyeing a place in Wednesday’s final which is set to take place at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia.

Goals from Anita Asante, Gemma Bonner and Eniola Aluko saw off the challenge from their Scandinavian rivals. Asante, who plays her club football in Sweden for Malmo, got the ball rolling on 30 minutes before Liverpool Ladies defender Bonner headed a second on 67 minutes. Aluko wrapped up proceedings with a third after a fine finish from the Chelsea Ladies forward.

With the three points in the bag, Sampson brought on more new faces including Alex Scott who came on for Asante and young University of Harvard goalkeeper Lizzie Durack who made her senior debut six minutes from time.

Karen Carney came close to adding a fourth in added time, but Finland shot-stopper Minna Meriluoto was on hand to keep the deficit to just three goals.

Earlier in the competition, England opened their account in Cyprus with a 2-0 win over Italy after goals from Carney and Toni Duggan.

Elsewhere on Friday, Scotland built on their creditable draw with France in their opening game of the tournament by beating Holland in a seven-goal thriller.

Turbine Potsdam forward Lisa Evans scored a hat-trick for the Scots with Jenny Beattie grabbing the fourth as the Scots beat the Dutch who are six places above them in 14th in the FIFA World Rankings.

The Republic of Ireland also produced another excellent performance after holding South Korea, who are ranked 16 places above them in the FIFA World Rankings, to a 1-1 draw.

Ireland deservedly took the lead on 24 minutes when a Megan Campbell long throw saw Louise Quinn get in front of the goalkeeper and head the ball into the roof of the net from a metre out.

However, they let the South Korean back into the game on 38 minutes when So Yun Ji twisted and turned in the box before unleashing a right footed shot into the top corner for the equaliser. Originally a six-team competition, the Cyprus Women’s Cup expanded to eight teams in 2009 and then to 12 teams in 2011.

This year’s tournament, which is being held in Nicosia, Larnaca and Paralimni, also features Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.