ALTHOUGH Northern Ireland didn’t deliberately ‘take a fall’ at home to Poland on Friday night, this is the match in which manager Tanya Oxtoby believes her team can land a winning combination.
Even avoiding defeat will be enough for the visitors to secure second spot and a play-off against a third-placed League A team – but that will be easier said than done.
Only a dramatic late double from skipper Simone Magill denied Bosnia & Herzegovina victory in Larne back in February, and the Balkan side are strong at home.
Northern Ireland captain Simone Magill celebrates scoring the winner against Bosnia & Herzegovina at Inver Park, Larne.
Photo – Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Press (Andrew McCarroll/Andrew McCarroll/ Pacemaker Pres)
They thrashed Romania 4-0 in their group opener and were beating Poland until added time in early April when the eventual table-toppers levelled for a 1-1 draw.
Admittedly NI probably merited the 3-2 win at Inver Park, where the visitors scored with both their efforts on target, but the girls in green will have to be at their best to hold on to the runners-up spot.
Oxtoby gave debuts to yet more youngsters on Friday, starting Abi Sweetlove in a makeshift back three alongside Nadene Caldwell and Ellie Mason, while Aimee Kerr enjoyed a late cameo in attack.
Poland punished defensive frailties and a goalkeeping faux pas in their convincing 4-0 victory at Seaview, but Oxtoby hinted that there’d be a different line-up and a different approach out in the former Yugoslavia.
“We’ve got such competition for places, which is great. I think the shape change [to a back four] helped us in the second half.
“I’m looking forward to seeing them play on Tuesday night. that’s the focus for us. There’s enough positives [from the Poland game] for us to focus and make sure we get the job done.”
Northern Ireland’s Joely Andrews shadowed by Poland’s Paulina Tomasiak during Friday night’s Women’s Nations League game at Seaview, Belfast.
Photo by William Cherry/Presseye
Diminutive midfielder Joely Andrews literally took a battering from a big Pole, but the 23-year-old picked herself up and got on with it, which is the approach she and her team-mates intended to adopt immediately after the 4-0 loss.
“This hurts, and we’ll reflect on it, but we know that we have to bounce back now and we’ll be fully focused on Tuesday.”
Having had to go into a relegation play-off following the last Nations League, the Hearts player believes this has been a season of improvement:
“Absolutely – if we finish a place higher in this group than we did in the last campaign then that is progress. I think as a squad we’ve come on a lot over the last number of campaigns.”
Defeat would mean another relegation play-off, against a second-placed side from League C, but, having also met in the qualifiers for Euro 2025, with Northern Ireland winning both matches, 3-1 away and then 2-0 at Windsor Park, Andrews is optimistic of again getting the better of familiar foes:
“Bosnia and us we know each other inside out, we’ve played them quite a few times, and so it’ll be tough.
“We’ll have to we’ll have to go there with real desire and be hard to break down to begin with and then be good on the ball and create chances for ourselves – but I think we can go and take three points.”