Kim Little feels that Scotland showed signs of the ability they possess in their 2-1 defeat by England in their World Cup opener .

Scotland, making their first ever appearance at the finals, had little joy in the first half in Nice as England dominated and went 2-0 up but things were different after the interval and Shelley Kerr’s side set up a tense finish when Claire Emslie scored with just over 10 minutes to go.

“The initial reflections are that we are obviously disappointed we didn’t get any points from the game but I think definitely from our first- to second-half performance you can see the improvement,” the Arsenal midfielder said. “We have natural ability in our team and it was eventually going to come through at some point. We just flattened in midfield a bit to create less space for England and make it easier to pick up the ball, especially myself and Caroline [Weir]. We did that more and had a bit more belief.

Nikita Parris opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a penalty awarded via VAR, and Ellen White curled in the second shortly before half-time.

“When they scored the first goal, I think we then naturally dropped off because of the pressure of going down 1-0,” Little added. “So we need to maybe learn from that and maybe be a bit more on the front foot if that is to happen again.

“But they are obviously a great team and you have to give them respect – they are ranked third in the world for a reason. It’s three points gone but we’ve got six more we can get. So we’ll look forward now and hope to do that.”

Scotland’s next game is against Japan in Rennes on Friday, with Argentina to follow at Parc des Princes in Paris five days later.

When Scotland made their major tournament debut at Euro 2017 in the Netherlands, they were beaten 6-0 by England. Little was not involved, having been ruled out of the tournament by injury. On being at the showpiece in France, the 28-year-old Arsenal forward said: “It’s great to be here with my teammates and representing my country at a World Cup. I’m just happy to be here.”