Tanya Oxtoby praises 'inspirational' Simone Magill after Birmingham City striker nets late brace to secure UEFA Women's Nations League success

Coming off the back of Friday’s defeat in Poland, Oxtoby’s side went ahead early on at Inver Park when Brenna McPartlan powered home her first international goal from close range to set Northern Ireland on track for victory against a team they beat twice in Euro 2025 qualification last year.

However, the visitors came roaring back after the break with a quickfire double from Emina Ekic and Inter midfielder Marija Milinkovic, stunning the home supporters and leaving Northern Ireland with an uphill task.

It turned into the late, late show in Larne with skipper Magill pulling her side level in the 89th minute before grabbing the winner in injury time to get Northern Ireland’s Nations League campaign up and running.

Magill’s brace means she continues to close the gap on record goalscorer Rachel Furness and Oxtoby praised the role played by the former Everton and Aston Villa star.

"She played a little bit deeper...to have the luxury to push her forward and to pop up with the goals when we need her most, that's what she does,” she said. “She's reliable, inspirational and she showed that again.

"I'm super excited for the girls. They dug really deep for the result there. I've just said to them 'please don't ever do that to me again!'.

"From our point of view we made it difficult for ourselves and gave ourselves a mountain to climb which was probably unnecessary, but the character of the group and the way they were able to adapt to the change of shape to go for the win was really pleasing.”

Magill told BBC: "To win a game like that, that's why you play the game and love football so much.

"I'm extremely happy now but we didn't make that easy on ourselves.

"I'm so proud of the character of the group, not only did we come back but we didn't settle for a draw.

"We pushed on for the three points. To do that, and the way that we did it, I'm really happy."