STEPH Houghton continued her red-hot form in front of goal as Team GB beat Brazil 1-0 at Wembley last night to seal their third successive win of London 2012.

Remarkably the left back has now scored in all three of the team’s wins and it was her tidy finish inside the first two minutes of the game that proved the difference between the two sides.

Kelly Smith missed a second-half penalty for Hope Powell’s side but they held out for the win that puts them top of Group E and means they avoid having to play world champions Japan in the quarter-finals.

“It was a fantastic experience in the stadium and I couldn’t believe it when the attendance flashed up,” said Burnley-born goalkeeper Rachel Brown.

“When I was singing the national anthem and seeing the level of support we had was something I will always remember.

“It was a great team performance and we can all be really proud of that – all of the guys worked really hard and that was proven by all of the bodies that were trying to get back when the opposition broke.

“Everybody wants to work so hard for each other and after this performance we’ve shown exactly where we want to be – we need to just keep working as hard as this in the rest of the tournament.

“Defensively things have been going so well, behind the scenes we do so much on how shape. We work diligently on how we defend, the staff shows us all the footage and we try and improve.

“We never got ahead of ourselves and we kept thinking about just qualifying and this particular game – we’re just so proud and happy.”

The Brits were fastest out of the blocks and the impressive Karen Carney fed in Houghton with only 92 seconds on the clock and the Arsenal defender rounded the keeper before sliding home.

Over 70,000 fans packed into Wembley and were baying for blood after Houghton’s strike but it was Brazil, silver medallists from the last two Olympics that began to assert themselves.

Striker Cristiane twice came close to creating an equaliser, while the energetic Kim Little and Jill Scott battled hard in the middle of the pitch.

At the other end Team GB looked dangerous on the counter, a Smith volley in the 29th minute flying narrowly wide as the home side went in at the break a goal to the good.

On 56 minutes Smith fluffed her lines from the spot after Aluko was tripped when clean through but Brazil were not finished, skipper Marta and the ever-present Cristiane both going close.

But on a special night for women’s football it was Team GB who held out for a deserved win and will go into the knockout stages without a single goal conceded. "Having been in one Olympic final you just want to get back here and race in another one and I'll use that motivation in training ."

Lloyds TSB, proud supporter of Team GB and proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Get closer to the Games at lloydstsb.com/london2012