NORTHERN Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby hailed a ‘ruthless streak’ she successfully called on her side to show in order to secure Tuesday’s 2-0 Windsor Park win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Second half goals from Joely Andrews and substitute Lauren Wade confirmed second place in their Euro 2025 qualifying group with the progress made over Oxtoby’s 10-month reign clear to see.
A delighted Oxtoby later revealed her half time team talk, with the score at 0-0, highlighted the necessity to demonstrate a ‘ruthless streak’ in the final third of the pitch… and they duly delivered.
“We wanted more of the same in terms of our counter press, I thought we pinned them in well and created chances,” she said.
“We spoke at half-time about spaces we wanted to exploit and how we were going to do it, but I think for us it was about continuing that momentum and managing the game once we got in front.
“I’m really pleased with the result – I thought it was a 90-minute performance and that is what we asked for. We adjusted our shape a couple of times to try and exploit different spaces and we did it seamlessly, which shows the progression of the group.”
Joely Andrews’ opening goal was straight from the training ground manual, Oxtoby added: “We worked on that move and we are driving the standards to hold them accountable in training, so we are starting to see the fruits of that now.
“When we get in those areas, we are really starting to take those opportunities and I am really pleased for the girls. This is a whole squad that has been building towards these performances.
“It is a credit to the whole group for the position we are in, but I felt like in the last window we turned a corner and we have proved that again across these two games. We are really starting to gel as a group and play the football we want to play.
“We’ve achieved what we had set out to achieve in this group, we will start preparing now for the play-offs to make sure we’re organised.
“From our perspective we’re ready, it doesn’t matter who we play and we’re looking to continue to build on our journey.”
Oxtoby’s team had already secured a place in the play-offs for Women’s Euro 2025 by defeating Malta 2-0 away on Friday, however Tuesday’s win means they could be seeded for the first instalment of two rounds of play-offs.
The draw for those play-offs is being held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Friday.
PICTURES: BOB HALL
