It was meant to be a joyous, goal-filled occasion as England played their first home match since winning bronze at the summer’s World Cup finals in Canada. On a highly frustrating afternoon and in front of an enthusiastic, five-figure crowd at a windy and rain-swept Ashton Gate, however, Mark Sampson’s team had to settle for a 69th-minute goal by the substitute Jill Scott to beat a Bosnia-Herzegovina side regarded as one of the minnows of their Euro 2017 qualifying group.

England had started their campaign with a more than convincing 8-0 win in Estonia but three days after a well-earned goalless friendly draw that might have been a victory against the European champions, Germany, ranked second in the world, England found it a tough task to break down and beat a team who sit 67 places below them at 72nd in the Fifa rankings.

The head coach, Sampson, said: “Credit to Bosnia, they made it difficult for us but the conditions were the winner today. The players were desperate to put on a show for the supporters and win the match with style and lots of goals. But they had to be strong, resolute and stay patient, and the important thing was getting the three points to keep us on track for the Euro finals.”

Bosnia packed their defence with the lone striker, Alisa Spahic, rarely venturing further upfield than the halfway line and more often than not deployed behind the ball with the rest of her outfield colleagues. The Bosnians had lost 6-0 and 5-0 to Belgium in two of their earlier qualifiers but chances for an increasingly frustrated England were few and far between as their ingenuity was tested against ultra-negative tactics.

The midfielder Jordan Nobbs had a 10th-minute 20-yard drive pushed on to the bar by the goalkeeper Almina Hodzic, then 10 minutes later the striker Eniola Aluko slid the ball wide of the near post from Isobel Christiansen’s cross. Aluko wastefully headed a 27th-minute chance over the bar but those three efforts were the sum of England’s first-half moments of real danger.

Sampson’s team continued in all-out attack mode after the interval but Hodzic saved two well-struck long-range efforts by Nobbs and also kept out a viciously in-swinging free-kick by Christiansen. The goalkeeper made her first mistake of the night, however, Scott’s header from an Aluko cross to squeeze under her body and over the line.

That proved enough to give Sampson’s side three points and keep them on course for a place at the Euro 2017 finals in the Netherlands. “2015 has been a fantastic year for English women’s football,” he said, “and the challenge now is to keep the momentum going.”

England Bardsley; Turner, Houghton (Rose, 84), Stoney, Stokes; Nobbs, Bassett; Clarke (Scott, 55), Christiansen (Duggan, 60), Davison; Aluko. Subs not used Telford, White, Kirby, Williams.

Bosnia-Herzegovina Hodzic; Dijakovic (Lihovic, 81), M Hasanbegovic, Spahic (Piskic, 90), Aleksic, Radeljic (Stanic, 90); Nikolic; Seslija, Hadzic, Kulis; Spahic. Subs not used E Hasanbegovic, Numanovic, Kameric, Crnjak.

Referee F Guillemin (Fr)

Att 13,040