Vanina Correa saved a penalty from England's Nikita Parris

Vanina Correa's outstanding performance against England proves women do not need smaller goals, Scotland goalkeeper Lee Alexander has suggested.

Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes is among those to have said women's matches should use smaller goals. external-link

But Alexander thinks Scotland will find it tough enough to beat Correa in their final group game against Argentina.

"You look at performances like the Argentine goalkeeper and you can't want to drop the goal height," she said.

"It was an inspired performance. Probably the best goalkeeping performance at the tournament so far.

"She had a very good penalty save, did well during the game and deserved the plaudits."

Correa, who stands 5ft 11ins, is among the taller goalkeepers at the Women's World Cup, but the 35-year-old who plays for Rosario Central would be among the shortest in the men's game.

Glasgow City's Alexander, who is 5ft 7ins, says she would prefer to be five inches taller and there has been a "stigma" about female goalkeepers but "completely disagrees" with the idea of smaller goals as she does not think it would help women in their battle for equality in football.

"Genetics hasn't given me that and I just have to make sure that I work harder on all aspects of my game," the 27-year-old said.

"If you ask all the goalkeepers in women's football, we work probably just as hard as the men in terms of our speed across the goal line and our plyometric jumps to try to get that top-corner save."

After losing 2-1 to both England and Japan, Scotland must beat Correa at least once on Wednesday in Paris if they are to secure the win they need to have a chance of reaching the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Argentina, who opened with a draw against Japan, also need to win but have only conceded one goal so far.

"We have to feel confident," Alexander said. "Our expectation was to get out of the group and it still is.

"Argentina seem very physical. Their game plan has been spot on for both games. They have sat in and taken the pressure for most of the game and hit teams on the break, so they will be a very difficult side."

Alexander picked out Levante playmaker Estefania Banini and Lyon striker Sole Jaimes as Argentina's "flair players".

"But we know that, if you look at our team sheet and the squad of players that we've got, we can certainly hurt them," she said.

'We maybe gave teams too much respect'

Lee Alexander was beaten by Mana Iwabuchi's shot as Japan defeated Scotland 2-1

Alexander dismissed criticism of head coach Shelley Kerr's tactics by former United States goalkeeper Hope Solo, pointing out that opening games against sides ranked third and seventh in the world were always "going to be difficult".

"We knew we had to try to contain Japan as they are such a fast-paced ball-moving team," the Scotland goalkeeper said.

Alexander thought World Cup debutants Scotland had "maybe given too much respect to the opposing teams", "sat too far off them" and that refereeing decisions had gone against them but thought improved second-half performances showed that "we are skilful enough and deserve to be here".