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Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby says she expects a tough test against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Tuesday night’s Nations League encounter at Inver Park.

Bosnia-Herzegovina started their League B Group 1 campaign with an impressive 4-0 win over Romania in Zenica on Friday.

Northern Ireland are looking to bounce back after beginning with a 2-0 defeat by Poland in Gdansk.

“Winning 4-0, it’s pretty impressive – it’s going to be tough and we need to assert ourselves from the start,” said Oxtoby.

“We’re really looking forward to the game. We’re at home and we want to start off aggressively.”

It is a meeting of familiar foes with Northern Ireland beating Bosnia-Herzegovina in both Euro 2025 qualifiers last year.

“We need to be on our game – they caused us problems in the last two games we played them.

Poland scored two goals in three first-half minutes to condemn Oxtoby’s side to defeat in Friday night’s opener.

Ewelina Kamczyk struck first for the Euro 2025-bound Poles before Adriana Achcinska slotted home to double the advantage.

A highlight for Northern Ireland came 16 minutes from time when teenager Kascie Weir came on for her debut.

They now face a side sitting 19 places below them in the world rankings but who arrive in Larne on a high after a winning start.

“They’re completely different [than Poland] in terms of their style of play,” added Oxtoby.

“From our point of view there were elements in the Poland performance that we were pretty disappointed with from ourselves and the standards we set so we’re looking forward to putting that right on Tuesday night.

Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby says she expects a tough test against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Tuesday night’s Nations League encounter at Inver Park.

Bosnia-Herzegovina started their League B Group 1 campaign with an impressive 4-0 win over Romania in Zenica on Friday.

Northern Ireland are looking to bounce back after beginning with a 2-0 defeat by Poland in Gdansk.

“Winning 4-0, it’s pretty impressive – it’s going to be tough and we need to assert ourselves from the start,” said Oxtoby.

“We’re really looking forward to the game. We’re at home and we want to start off aggressively.”

It is a meeting of familiar foes with Northern Ireland beating Bosnia-Herzegovina in both Euro 2025 qualifiers last year.

“We need to be on our game – they caused us problems in the last two games we played them.

Poland scored two goals in three first-half minutes to condemn Oxtoby’s side to defeat in Friday night’s opener.

Ewelina Kamczyk struck first for the Euro 2025-bound Poles before Adriana Achcinska slotted home to double the advantage.

A highlight for Northern Ireland came 16 minutes from time when teenager Kascie Weir came on for her debut.

They now face a side sitting 19 places below them in the world rankings but who arrive in Larne on a high after a winning start.

“They’re completely different [than Poland] in terms of their style of play,” added Oxtoby.

“From our point of view there were elements in the Poland performance that we were pretty disappointed with from ourselves and the standards we set so we’re looking forward to putting that right on Tuesday night.

England bowler Brydon Carse has been ruled out of the rest of the Champions Trophy and will be replaced in the squad by leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed.

Carse, 29, has been struggling with a blister on a toe on his left foot and the issue reoccurred in Saturday’s defeat by Australia.

He had trouble with the injury and returned figures of 1-69 from seven overs.

Ahmed is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday, the day of England’s next match against Afghanistan, meaning that Jamie Overton would be the most like-for-like replacement for Carse.

Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood are the other seam options in the squad while Ahmed, 20, gives England a second frontline spin option, in addition to Adil Rashid, for Saturday’s match against South Africa.

England pace trio of Carse, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood took 3-226 across 26.3 overs against Australia.

Ahmed has taken 10 wickets in six one-day internationals at an average of 23.3, and took a five-wicket haul on his Test debut in Pakistan in 2022 as England’s youngest men’s debutant.

If England do manage to navigate a way out of Group B they would most likely face India in Dubai, where spin has played a key role.

Carse was picked for the Champions Trophy despite missing the final two ODIs of England’s tour of India because of the toe issue this month.

The injury required stitches, which were removed shortly before the tournament began.

Carse has impressed for England this winter after making his Test debut against Pakistan in October.

Afghanistan are also winless in Group B after losing to South Africa in their opening game. Whichever side loses will likely be out of the tournament.

There has been debate around whether England should boycott the match because of the Taliban’s assault on women’s rights in the country.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have called for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do more but confirmed earlier this month the match will go ahead.

Root reaffirmed their view that boycotting would not have a “positive impact”.

“Clearly there’s things over there that are hard to hear and read up on but cricket is such a source of joy for so many people,” Root said.

England bowler Brydon Carse has been ruled out of the rest of the Champions Trophy and will be replaced in the squad by leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed.

Carse, 29, has been struggling with a blister on a toe on his left foot and the issue reoccurred in Saturday’s defeat by Australia.

He had trouble with the injury and returned figures of 1-69 from seven overs.

Ahmed is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday, the day of England’s next match against Afghanistan, meaning that Jamie Overton would be the most like-for-like replacement for Carse.

Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood are the other seam options in the squad while Ahmed, 20, gives England a second frontline spin option, in addition to Adil Rashid, for Saturday’s match against South Africa.

England pace trio of Carse, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood took 3-226 across 26.3 overs against Australia.

Ahmed has taken 10 wickets in six one-day internationals at an average of 23.3, and took a five-wicket haul on his Test debut in Pakistan in 2022 as England’s youngest men’s debutant.

If England do manage to navigate a way out of Group B they would most likely face India in Dubai, where spin has played a key role.

Carse was picked for the Champions Trophy despite missing the final two ODIs of England’s tour of India because of the toe issue this month.

The injury required stitches, which were removed shortly before the tournament began.

Carse has impressed for England this winter after making his Test debut against Pakistan in October.

Afghanistan are also winless in Group B after losing to South Africa in their opening game. Whichever side loses will likely be out of the tournament.

There has been debate around whether England should boycott the match because of the Taliban’s assault on women’s rights in the country.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have called for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do more but confirmed earlier this month the match will go ahead.

Root reaffirmed their view that boycotting would not have a “positive impact”.

“Clearly there’s things over there that are hard to hear and read up on but cricket is such a source of joy for so many people,” Root said.