Northern Ireland's Tanya Oxtoby declares 'you can’t wipe the smile off their faces' after Albania win

​Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby has highlighted the collective gains following a 4-0 success over Albania which helped to preserve UEFA Women’s Nations League promotion play-off hopes.
By Patrick Van Dort
Published 2nd Dec 2023, 04:00 BST
Northern Ireland goalscorers Megan Bell, Danielle Maxwell and Simone Magill after defeating Albania by 4-0 across the UEFA Women’s Nations League game at the National Stadium in Tirana. (Photo by William Cherry/PressEye)Northern Ireland goalscorers Megan Bell, Danielle Maxwell and Simone Magill after defeating Albania by 4-0 across the UEFA Women’s Nations League game at the National Stadium in Tirana. (Photo by William Cherry/PressEye)
Northern Ireland goalscorers Megan Bell, Danielle Maxwell and Simone Magill after defeating Albania by 4-0 across the UEFA Women’s Nations League game at the National Stadium in Tirana. (Photo by William Cherry/PressEye)

Simone Magill’s double alongside efforts from Danielle Maxwell and Megan Bell left Northern Ireland with a second win over Albania and second of the group campaign in the penultimate Nations League B1 test.

Having defeated Albania by a single goal in September during Oxtoby’s first win since her summer appointment as Northern Ireland boss, the called-for clinical edge was on show yesterday in Tirana.

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With Hungary losing last night to promoted group winners Republic of Ireland, it puts Northern Ireland second in the standings by two points before a derby date at Belfast’s Windsor Park next Tuesday in search of securing runners-up spot and a play-off for a jump to the top tier.

“We spoke about making sure that we didn’t give them anything and if they were to get anything out of the game it was that we make them earn it,” said Oxtoby on Northern Ireland social media after the win. "I thought everyone contributed tonight - which was excellent – and some of the things we’ve been working on in training came off consistently.

"So, there’s progress there and Tuesday’s going to be a new challenge for us to take the performance from tonight and be able to apply that against a team that is in form.

"We wanted to be super aggressive in terms of our rest defence and make sure that when we did lose it we were in positions to win it back quickly.

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"I thought we did that exceptionally well and we also asked at half-time to be a little bit more clinical in the final third...which, again, we got in the second half.”

Oxtoby introduced some fresh faces into the squad for the fixture double-header.

"It just shows the trajectory that we’re on...you can’t wipe the smile off their faces,” she said. "I’m really pleased for them and their families and long may it continue.

"We’re really looked forward to support on Tuesday night and, hopefully, we can continue the fine performance from today.”