We get smacked in the face and rebound – NI boss Oxtoby

We “reward well after a little smocking in the face” and do well.”

After being defeated by Poland by a score of 4-0 at home on Friday, head coach Tanya Oxtoby perfectly sums up Northern Ireland’s Nations League campaign.

Two things stand out in their five games so far: errors and resilience.

One cannot exist without the other, and while the former has plagued and cost them a number of games, the latter has given them hope for the future.

The two goals conceded in Gdansk in their opening game could have been avoided if we looked at errors first.

Emina Ekic’s solo run and finish came in the victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina after the defense of Northern Ireland had beaten her.

Ellie Mason and Rachel Dugdale both missed their clearance, so the less positive is said about Mihaela Ciolacu’s equalizer in the 1-1 draw in Romania.

Then, on Friday night, Ewa Pajor, who was skillful, burst into Ewa Pajor’s path to score the opener, Jackie Burns gave her a second, and Northern Ireland failed to clear their lines, allowing Paulina Tomasiak to score a third before half-time.

However, Oxtoby’s side have shown resilience in the face of setbacks.

They fought back in Gdansk, beat Bosnia, and put on their best campaign performance to defeat Romania 1-0 at home.

In Tuesday’s crucial game against Bosnia in Zenica, Oxtoby hopes her team can reestablish their resilience reserves. A victory would earn NI a promotion play-off spot.

The Australian, who emphasized that “they’re not all the same mistakes,” was careful to avoid getting too deeply into the error theme throughout the campaign.

There are individual errors and group errors throughout the entire campaign, she said, so it’s difficult to categorize them all. Learning from these mistakes is key, she said.

An unsettled backline, which has been involved in all five of the team’s previous games, may be one of the manager’s contributing factors to the high volume of mistakes.

Laura Rafferty has missed her last three games with an injury, which Oxtoby has acknowledged is “50-50” in terms of whether the Rangers defender is fit for the game in Zenica.

After fixing Friday night’s errors, the focus will shift to Tuesday’s game in Zenica, where a win would place Northern Ireland in second place, secure that crucial play-off spot, and bring an improvement over their previous Nations League performance.

Captain Simone Magill repeatedly mentioned the need to “park” the outcome despite saying that NI are “hurting” after the loss to Poland.

At the start of this campaign, “we were very clear about what we wanted to achieve,” she said, adding that the decision is still very much in our hands.

That doesn’t change for us despite the results of Friday. This is where we want to be after a lot of traveling.