ELLA TOONE, who paved the Lionesses’ path to roaring victory on Wednesday with the opening goal against Australia, was a determined and passionate sports student who encouraged other girls to play football at school, her former PE teacher said today.

Chris Nuttall, PE teacher at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley, Wigan, who taught Toone from Year 9 to Year 11,  said it’s “not a surprise” that she has reached her first Women’s World Cup final after England beat Australia 3-1.

The teacher said it was “surreal” watching Toone score but: “For myself and the rest of the department, it’s not a surprise for us because the way Ella conducted herself and how passionate she was about football throughout school, you could see how determined she was.

“You could tell she was going to go onto great things in terms of her football career.”

Nuttall also described the 23-year-old as a “role model,” beginnning at her old high school after she encouraged more girls to pick up sports.

He said: “She was a big starting point and now we run a number of girls’ teams and we have a lot of girls join football teams, and that all started from Ella.”

The PE teacher expressed his pride in seeing his former student make herself one of the heroes of the day with a brilliant first-half strike, making Lionesses fans believe they could make their first World Cup final.

He said: “You always hope as a PE teacher that one of your students will continue that passion when they leave school.

“For somebody to go onto the level that she has, breaking records … it’s unbelievable.”

He said: “Good luck to Ella. We’re all really proud as a PE department so we wish her all the luck.

“Good luck to the Lionesses — they’ve done the country proud.”