NI boss Tanya Oxtoby reveals why Nations League promotion push requires a total squad effort

Belfast Telegraph

5 days ago

If anything what goes on during an hour and a half on a rectangle of grass is merely the tip of a fairly large iceberg.
Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby has talked regularly about the culture in her squad and after securing a Nations League promotion Play-Off gave an insight into the small things that she sees behind the scenes that are impacting when the whistle goes.
The kind of actions that helped earn the 1-1 draw in Bosnia-Herzegovina that puts the team one step away from breaking into League A.
Four members of the squad didn't see game time over the double header against Poland and Bosnia — back-up goalkeepers Abbie Smith and Kate Smith as well as Louise McDaniel and Rachel Furness — but it's about other things for the manager.
'I think when you talk about the culture of the group it's the fact that everybody adds value and contributes to what we're doing,' said Oxtoby.
'I said to them that whether you played or you didn't you know you've contributed to the success of this group and it takes everybody.
'The way in which this group goes about that and looks after each other, the travel day wasn't exactly smooth and to see in the airport the way they look after each other that pleases me no end because that is the foundation that you build team character and resilience on
'Credit to all of them, I thought they were great and from my perspective I'm just pleased for them and the staff.'
Points tallies in groups only tell you so much. Northern Ireland's fortunes in the last three campaigns have fluctuated from earning seven points in the 2023 Nations League to eight this time around while in between collecting 10 in the Euro 2025 qualifying series — dropping two at home to Malta in the first game was a serious frustration at the time.
Places are more important and finishing second behind teams of the quality of Portugal and Poland in the last two groups was not only an improvement on the previous one, it was realistically the best that could have been hoped for.
Winning a promotion Play-Off and becoming a League A nation remains a big ask, especially as potential opponents Iceland, Belgium and Denmark have all qualified for the Women's Euro 2025 Finals and Austria were in Northern Ireland's group in 2022.
Although Oxtoby took over a Northern Ireland team that was only 14 months out of a first ever major tournament and who had won four out of six matches after the Women's Euro 2022 Finals, it was always going to take time for her to make it her team.
Her evolution of the squad, edging out the likes of former captain Marissa Callaghan and Demi Vance while also ending Julie Nelson's international career without ever calling her up elongated that process.
With Rachel Dugdale restored to the squad, Ellie Mason and Megan Bell now playing regularly, Brenna McPartlan and Natalie Johnson capped for the first time under Oxtoby's management and the introduction of youth in the shape of Keri Halliday, Kascie Weir and Abi Sweetlove, her vision is starting to take shape.
It will be the 2027 World Cup campaign or the next Nations League ahead of that tournament when the real judgement can be made.
The very nature of the Nations League with teams playing against similar level of opposition rather than being in groups of varying ability does give a much clearer picture of where each individual country sits on the wider landscape.
Poland proved they are better than Northern Ireland and showed the gap between League A and League B, but with better defending, a little bit more luck and not giving them early confidence after two goals inside 10 minutes they might have been beatable in a one-off game.
'In international football there are no easy games. That is the bottom line,' said Oxtoby.
'I said all along that this group was going to be so competitive and to come here away from home and grind out the result, as we did against Romania, we've done the job.
'I don't know any team in the world, whether that be club football or international football that gets it all their own way all the time.
'You've got to show character and resilience. You've got to win when it's not pretty, you've got to get results when it's not pretty and we've certainly done that .
'There have been times previously that we haven't, so for me that's growth.'
That character shining through is a measure of the qualities Oxtoby's team possesses. Even within the last four months they staved off comebacks away to both Romania and Bosnia after conceding within a few minutes of taking the lead, came from behind with two late, late goals to beat Bosnia, who themselves had come from 1-0 down and survived pressure at home to Romania to see out a 1-0 win.
Those things don't just happen.
'To manage the game the way we did — I thought we should have probably scored a few more in the first half and conceded a sloppy one — to show the character to make sure we saw the game out, at the end of the day, that's all that matters at this point,' said Oxtoby.