Nikita Parris tempered Phil Neville’s midweek cry for clubs to open their main stadiums to their women’s teams by calling for women’s football to “build from the bottom”.

Speaking after England’s 1-0 loss to Canada at the ground where she players for Manchester City Women, Parris said: “You want to build towards that, but let’s first off get the Academy Stadium full before we try and go to the Etihad.

“Let’s build women’s football from the bottom before we get to the top; it’s not about building from the top to get to the bottom. We can talk about the Etihad and Man United’s ground, the Theatre of Dreams, in a few years’ time. Let’s fill the Academy Stadiums, the Kingsmeadows, first of all.”

With the FA detailing the second-year progress on its Gameplan for Growth strategy in the morning, and attendances the hot topic, Parris bucked the trend of calls to think big following the record crowds achieved recently by Atlético Madrid and Juventus. The England forward was also full of praise for the FA development of the game. “It’s massively important to grow the game that we have an infrastructure under the England women’s team,” she said. “It’s a big strategy and it’s one that’s going to gain momentum over the years; you can even see now how far women’s football and women’s sport has come in England and we’re going to push it all the way.”

For the players, pushing it all the way means success at the World Cup. The FA is preparing to cope with increased interest should England win and the senior side are well aware of the role they have to play.

Parris said: “Ultimately any strategy is only successful if you’re successful at the top and it filters down. Our under-19s, under-20s, under-17s teams are all getting into Euro finals, World Cup finals, winning bronze medals, we’re winning bronze medals, it’s about that final step now. We’ve got to punish teams. In every game, youth games, senior games, just to push the game further.”

That was where England fell short against Canada. They seemed to lack creative drive in the middle, particularly in the first half, though Parris was more scathing of their performance up front. “I felt like we dominated the game but they won, they put the ball in the back of the net and we never,” she said. “We weren’t good enough in the final third and they were, they punished us. A clinical striker like Christine Sinclair wasn’t in the game for 70 to 80 minutes and then she goes and scores. That’s what she can do.

“We weren’t good enough in the first half with our possession; too many times we had sloppy passes and square passes getting intercepted. We’ve just got to go away and carry on building. We understand as a team now that our biggest performances are going to come in the World Cup and there’s no straight line to success. It’s got nothing to do with the middle of the park; we had so many chances in the final third, but the last pass, the last cross, the last shot, just wasn’t working.”

And what of the first outing of the first bespoke England Women’s kit? “It feels good but it’s not good with a loss, so we’ve got to build for a win on Tuesday.”

Spain, in Swindon, will offer Neville’s team the chance to make swift amends.