Bucks New University student Fran Kirby helped England make history at the Women’s World Cup as they won a knockout game for the first time in their history.

Mark Sampson’s ladies came from behind to beat Norway 2-1 and set-up a meeting with host nation Canada in the quarter-finals.

There were joyous scenes on the pitch at the Lansdowne Stadium in Ottawa as the final whistle sounded, signalling that after three previous World Cup quarter-final exits – from which they had qualified for straight from the group – England had finally put to bed an unwanted record.

Norway, the 2013 European Championship runners-up, were hot favourites to win the match and after dominating the first half they forged ahead when Solveig Gulbrandsen flicked the ball past Karen Bardsley after 54 minutes.

Kirby, who studies Coaching Science at Bucks, had started the final two group games after coming on as a substitute in the first and she made a significant enough impression to earn a place in the starting XI against the Norwegians.

The 21-year-old, nicknamed ‘mini Messi’ by Sampson, did her best on Monday evening but struggled to make a telling impact before she was replaced by Jill Scott after Norway had opened the scoring.

But the striker, who plies her trade for Reading in the second tier of the Women’s Super League, was able to celebrate at full-time as Lucy Bronze hammered home a long range winner after captain Steph Houghton had equalised with a header.

England and Kirby now turn their attentions to taking on host nation Canada on Sunday – a team who beat them 1-0 in a pre-tournament friendly.