Latching onto the end of an inch-perfect Lauren Davidson ball, the 23-year-old threw her right leg at the pass, sliding the ball into an empty net to give Scotland a share of the points.
The thrilling finale keeps Scotland at the summit of the League B Group 4 table, level on points with Belgium but holding a four-goal difference advantage. Melissa Andreatta’s side travel through to Belgium on Saturday for the second game of their double header, before rounding our their qualification campaign with two games against Israel in June.
Speaking at full-time, McGovern asserted that her Scotland side would look to replicate their level of performance in the reverse fixture – whilst encouraging her teammates to go one better regarding the result.
“You can see in the reaction at the end there,” McGovern said, “that that’s a crucial point, and we’re still in it. We’ll go to Belgium and give it everything
“I think that we’re actually frustrated not to get the three points, but we have a second leg on Saturday – and we’ll be going out there with the exact same attitude as we had today.
“If we play like that, we know that we’ll create, and we know that we’ll score.”
At domestic level, McGovern has been on formidable form, with 21 goal contributions in 27 games for Joelle Murray’s Hibs side in this campaign so far.
That form has followed the young forward into her performances in blue and white. McGovern now has four goals in three World Cup qualifiers, after a quick brace against Luxemboug at Barclays Hampden followed a late goal against the same opposition in March.
But the striker was not entirely satisfied with her own performance at Easter Road last night. A number of late chances came and went, with Scotland pushing for an equaliser after Sari Kees’ 15th-minute goal gave the hosts an early setback.
McGovern had a number of goalscoring opportunities against Belgium on Tuesday night. (Image: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock)
A point-blank header flew over the crossbar before a gilt-edged chance – with the clock fast approaching ninety minutes – saw McGovern’s first-time header flash well wide of the far post, despite the striker having time and space to consider her shot.
McGovern admitted to some ‘frustration’ at her individual performance which, on another night, could have seen her reap even greater personal reward.
“I’m a wee bit frustrated with myself,” she said. “I had so many chances!
“But listen, I got the girls back in it, and I can’t be too hard on myself.”
Head coach Melissa Andreatta acknowledged the value of a late point, whilst also calling for her players to be ‘more clinical’ in order to turn draws into wins.
The Australian also credited the work ethic and drive of her Scotland charges. Their professionalism, she said, was the defining factor on important nights, with dedication and commitment through both the international and the domestic season.
“I really believe in this group,” she asserted. “You see it in the spirit, the actions on the field; what you don’t see is what they’re doing off the field in training, in camp and with their clubs.
“There’s no hiding from it: with the number of chances we had, we weren’t clinical enough. The players want to be more clinical, and we’ll keep working on it. We’ll keep grafting away at our final third actions and our work in the final third.
“But, the promising thing is, we’re in the right spots many times, creating good moments. It’s just about that next step, which I think is going to come – it’s inevitable.”