Oxtoby praises NI's 'professional' win over Malta

Northern Ireland boss Tanya Oxtoby praised her side's "professional" display in their 2-0 win against Malta in Euro 2025 qualifying on Friday night.

An early own goal from Emma Lipman and a late header from Kerry Beattie helped Northern Ireland to the victory which sealed a play-off place for next summer's Euros.

And Oxtoby was keen to applaud Northern Ireland's grit and determination to eventually break down a stubborn Maltese defence.

"We spoke about the fact we would probably have to grind out the first half and that they were going to come out as they had nothing to lose," Oxtoby told BBC Sport NI.

"We rode our luck a little bit, but I thought we controlled the game well in the second half and created a really good goal which we had been working on."

Malta had made a bright start to the game at the Centenary Stadium in sweltering conditions, with Haley Bugeja hitting the post and Jackie Burns tipping over an effort from Kailey Willis.

A youthful Northern Ireland side, with Simone Magill and Lauren Wade left on the bench and Kerry Beattie and Casey Howe replacing them in the starting line-up, struggled to get to grips with the game.

That was until a fortuitous own goal from Lipman against the run of play gave the visitors a surprise lead and allowed players to come out of their shell.

"You earn your luck and in the last few games we have put in enough good performances to have one go our way, and I think it settled us and we controlled the game really well second half," Oxtoby explained.

"I thought the group handled the conditions really it was really hot in the first half but as the sun went down, we were able to wrestle control and we were pretty comfortable."

Looking ahead to Tuesday's game against Bosnia & Herzegovina, Oxtoby conceded that it is a "massive" opportunity after Bosnia drew 0-0 with Portugal on Friday.

The two sides are now level on points ahead of the game at Windsor Park, with the winner sealing second place in the group which would potentially seal a seeded spot in the play-off draw next week.

"I think we want to keep building, it is rest, recover and get ourselves back to Belfast and it's a massive game for us," Oxtoby said.

"We set ourselves the target of six points in this window and that hasn't changed, and we need to continue to push this group as far as we can go."