Thursday, December 19, 2024

Norway v Northern Ireland: NI ready to ’embrace’ another ‘tough’ Norway test – Tanya Oxtoby

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Oxtoby wants Northern Ireland to adopt a more valiant approach to the second leg given they have nothing to lose.

“Part of the performance piece is trying to go out and be a little bit more aggressive and get pressure on the ball and we showed second half we could do that,” she continued.

“We have asked the girls to be brave and take themselves out of their comfort zones, so we will see if they can do that for 90 minutes and that will be the test to see if we have success or not.”

Oxtoby believes her side must focus on what they can control rather than fixating on stopping Norway’s threats due to the quality spread throughout Gemma Grainger’s squad.

“When you play teams like Norway, they have quality all over the pitch and we have seen it come to the fore so if you try and shut down one option another pops up,” Oxtoby added.

“We need to focus on ourselves and what we are going after. The players need to be ready for momentum shifts in the game and be comfortable under pressure.”

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