RACHEL Daly’s former North Yorkshire school teacher has hailed the Lioness as a “one-off” player as England aim for world cup glory on Sunday.

The 31-year-old started her career at Killinghall Nomads in Harrogate and Michael Sweetman, who was her teacher at Rossett School in the town, admitted she stood out from an early age.

England reached its first women’s world cup final on Sunday after a 3-1 win against co-hosts Australia on Wednesday in Sydney.

Ahead of the final against Spain Mr Sweetman said: “She was a one-off, she was completely different and the attributes she had, those winning attributes, it’s just pure focus on winning the game.

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“It can in some ways not be great, but on a football pitch it’s ideal, it’s perfect.

“She’s been a success at every team she’s played in and that’s why, I think.

“She wasn’t amazingly quick or amazingly fit, but she just played the game.

“She could take a boot, get up and get on with it.

“She’s skilful, she’d play up front or in midfield for me and she scored two or three a game.”

England are aiming to achieve back-to-back success in a major tournament final after their European Championship win at Wembley last year. Daly was part of that Lionesses squad and Mr Sweetman reflected on how far she has come in her England career.

He said: “I definitely believed she’d play for England, whether I believed she’d get to a World Cup final I don’t think you could ever comprehend that really.”

“I actually rang the FA when she was 14 and asked them to come down and watch her. They came down to a final at Harrogate Town and we beat a school in York 5-0 I think, she scored two and that was the start of it.”