Tanya Oxtoby looking to 'right the wrongs' of Malta draw after naming Northern Ireland Women's squad for crucial Euro 2025 qualifiers
Northern Ireland Women’s manager Tanya Oxtoby admits her side are determined to “right the wrongs” of their first UEFA Euro 2025 qualifying meeting with Malta when the pair clash later this month.
Oxtoby has named an unchanged 23-player panel for the double-header of qualifiers against Malta (July 12) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (July 16) as they look to take another step towards qualifying for the major tournament.
Northern Ireland know even a draw will be enough to progress into the play-off stage, where the six highest-ranked teams will be drawn into ties against the six lowest-ranked sides in the opening round, while the qualifying campaign can also determine the composition of the upcoming Nations League.
Oxtoby’s side started their run with a 0-0 draw against Malta, who have since lost three consecutive matches while scoring once in the process, before beating Bosnia on the road.
They suffered a double-header defeat to Portugal in the last international window, but responded in fine fashion to a 4-0 loss by putting up a much-improved performance five days later at Mourneview Park.
Northern Ireland’s crunch clash with Malta will take place in Ta’Qali, where temperatures will likely exceed 30 degrees next week, and Oxtoby says her squad are ready for the testing conditions.
"We know we need to get results across both games – that’s a no-brainer – but we’re not going to move away from our process,” she said. “We’ve been in this position in dealing with heat across the last two windows, so we have our strategies in place for that.
"I think the players have adapted and the staff have been fantastic, so we’ll continue to do that. We want to put right the wrongs from the home game against Malta and all our focus will go into that in terms of making sure our performance gives us the result we need.”
After their second defeat against Portugal, Oxtoby was able to draw on the positives and underlined her desire to carry those into the upcoming block of fixtures.
"We’re heading in the right direction and we go into the next window with two massive games that we need to win,” she said. "They continue to try the things we’re asking them to do...I thought that we caused problems for them and we were brave in the right moments in possession as well and we’ll continue to get better at that.
“It’s not quite there yet but Portugal are a great side, they counter-pressed really well tonight and put us under all sorts of pressure in terms of when we won the ball and we still managed to get around that at times, so really pleasing. There’s more to come...no doubt.”
Northern Ireland squad:
Goalkeepers – Jackie Burns (Reading Women), Maddy Harvey-Clifford (Crusaders Strikers), Lauren Perry (Montrose Women).
Defenders - Rebecca Holloway and Rebecca McKenna (both Birmingham City Women), Laura Rafferty (Rangers Women), Demi Vance (Glentoran Women), Rachel Dugdale (Reading Women), Kelsie Burrows (Cliftonville Ladies).
Midfielders - Joely Andrews, Nadene Caldwell and Chloe McCarron (all Glentoran Women), Marissa Callaghan and Louise McDaniel (both Cliftonville Ladies), Brenna McPartlan (Burnley Women).
Forwards: Kerry Beattie and Emily Wilson (both Glentoran Women), Simone Magill (unattached), Lauren Wade (Reading Women), Keri Halliday (Linfield Women), Casey Howe (Athlone Town Ladies), Caragh Hamilton (unattached), Danielle Maxwell (Cliftonville Ladies).