Sarina Wiegman knows the Olympics may be a long way off but acknowledged England’s 2-1 victory over Scotland in the UEFA Nations League was a crucial step towards taking on the ‘privileged’ role of coaching Great Britain.

The Lionesses know a place in the Nations League final would secure an Olympic quota place for Team GB and they went 2-0 up against their neighbours thanks to goals from Lucy Bronze and Lauren Hemp in the first half.

Kirsty Hanson nicked one back for the visitors on the stroke of half-time but England held on in a shaky second half and secured a vital three points to kick off their campaign in Group A.

It was announced in the run-up to the clash that Wiegman will coach Team GB’s women’s footballers in Paris should they get there but she is refusing to get ahead of herself.

“The Olympics is far away, this a very good start but there's still a long way to go,” she said. “But potentially being the coach of Great Britain, of course, that's very exciting.”

“We want to go to major tournaments and Olympics are very special.

“If that would be the case, I would be very honoured and privileged to take that job and what we're got really focusing on now is just one game.

“Scotland, I think has a very good style, and that's very important, we've seen the Belgium and Netherlands results.

“It's going to be close in the group, and Tuesday we play the Netherlands, so let's continue winning games and we'll see how far we get.”

Wiegman admitted her players showed signs of fatigue after a short turnaround from their heart-breaking World Cup final defeat to Spain in August.

A blistering start to the game was followed by lapses in decision-making and creativity after the break.

Lauren James had a goal disallowed for offside in the closing stages but Scotland were also a threat throughout the second half, with Hanson coming inches away from a leveller hit the crossbar.

But the Lionesses’ manager stressed the tight competition with Scotland, a side who included likely Olympic hopefuls such as Caroline Weir and goalscorer Hanson, is healthy for the growth of the international game.

“We were a lot better the first half and the second half we were struggling with the right decision making,” she said.

“It’s a very short turnaround, players haven't played any competitive games yet. So I'm very happy.

“I don't want to use that as an excuse. We just knew this was it and we have sometimes you just have to get through at some point.

“Other groups have been really tight too with some remarkable results. That's exactly what we want.

“We wanted more competitive games and we all want to develop the game and to get countries to improve but also countries just underneath the top to get closer.

“The Nations League has started and you’ve see how competitive it is with the other results we've seen.”