England captain Millie Bright said the Lionesses were left heartbroken by a 1-0 defeat to Spain in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday despite not being at their best in Sydney.

Olga Carmona scored the only goal as Spain kept the European champions at bay and could have won by a bigger margin had England goalkeeper Mary Earps not saved Jennifer Hermoso's second-half penalty.

"We're heartbroken. We gave everything, unfortunately we just weren't there today," said Bright.

"The girls are unbelievable. We had a lot of critics at the start of the tournament, a few lost belief in us, but we never stopped believing in ourselves. 

"We had full belief, but sometimes football goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.

"We've played in a World Cup final. In a few weeks we'll appreciate this day and coming second, but it's hard to take because we're winners, we want to win."

England nearly got off to a flying start in their first World Cup final in the women's game as Lauren Hemp struck the bar.

But Spain were rarely troubled after Carmona's strike broke the deadlock on 29 minutes.

"In the first half we weren't at our best," added Bright. "Second-half we definitely bounced back, showed our fight, showed our character and we had chances.

"We hit the bar, but we just didn't have that final edge today and obviously they put theirs in the back of the net."

kca/dh