Northern Ireland kicked off their World Cup Qualifiers with a trip to Scotland on Saturday. Jane Ross scored her first international goal within 3 minutes. Northern Ireland held on strong and defended well at a rainy Fir Park and had a few shots on goal with Sarah McFadden narrowly going over the crossbar just before half time.
It took until the 78th minute for Scotland to increase the lead with a goal from Montpellier defender, Jennifer Beattie. The Scots continued with the pressure and looked impressive passing the ball around the pitch.
Goalkeeper Emma Higgins committed herself and prevented the lead from increasing further but ended up suffering a few knocks in the closing stages of the match.
Scotland finished this game top of Group 4 with 9 points in their 3 games of the campaign so far. Northern Ireland were the only team in Group 4 who hadn’t played a game until Saturday.
England welcomed neighbours Wales to The Den on Saturday night. England dominated the match but couldn’t find the back of the net in the first half.
Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan ensured that England kept their 100% record of the Qualifiers keeping them at the top of Group 6 after 3 games. Wales are sitting in second place, a game behind England.
Welsh captain Jess Fishlock injured her wrist in the first half and had to leave the field of play in the second half. This later was confirmed as a broken wrist and leaves her in doubt for their next game against Montenegro.
Northern Ireland host Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday evening while Scotland are away to Poland and England are away to Turkey on Thursday.
More results and fixtures can be found at Uefa.com
*images from SFA & BBC
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