THIS is our home, insisted Northern Ireland Women’s boss Tanya Oxtoby, as Windsor Park prepares to welcome Montenegro - and a couple of high-profile guests.
Much focus may be on a certain female in the stand – Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill – and newly installed GAA President Jarlath Burns but the people the manager is most concerned about making comfortable are her players.
NI may have suffered heavy defeats here against England (0-5) and, late last year, neighbours the Republic of Ireland, but the Australian still believes that benefits can accrue from playing here rather than at the women’s team’s traditional setting of Seaview.
“This is our home. From my point of view it’s about getting the players really comfortable with coming here, getting excited about coming here. There’s no doubt that this will help us [against Montenegro].”
Asked about deciding on which venue for home games, Oxtoby explained the choice of Windsor: “I think it’s more about providing our players with a high-performing environment. This stadium is fantastic… if we want to go to major tournaments and we want to compete we have to be playing in stadiums like this.
“We don’t want to just qualify and make up numbers – we want to be able to compete at major tournaments. To do that we have to learn to adapt to bigger pitches, bigger crowds, this type of stadium.”
Captain Marissa Callaghan welcomed the fact that O’Neill and Burns will attend, also noting the benefit their presence might bring to the team: “I think it’s amazing that our Executive is finally back together. Football is for all and it’s great to have everyone here. Hopefully we’ll get more and more people here to watch us.”
With this two-legged tie in their control after a 2-0 win away on Friday, courtesy of goals in from the final quarter from Lauren Wade and Demi Vance there might be some concerns that the players could lose concentration on completing the aggregate victory.
However, Oxtoby was adamant that she won’t even have to deliver a ‘no complacency’ message: “I don’t think I have to say that. The players are up for it, they’re keen.
“We’ve been talking all window that ‘This is about us’ and making sure that we are developing and continuing on our journey. They want to keep learning. I’m really lucky that they’re internally motivated to want to be better.”
Again Oxtoby suggested that the venue would be a positive factor for the hosts, explaining: “Whenever we walk through the doors here the players and the staff are buzzing. We had a really good session out on the pitch, everyone’s up for it, everyone’s excited. Hopefully a big crowd – we can’t wait.”
Callaghan concurred with those thoughts, saying of Windsor: “The buzz, you can just see it on everyone’s faces.”
Oxtoby sent out an experienced XI in Podgorica and they played with patience, which pleased her, not panicking as they took their time to break down their hosts.
However, both manager and skipper are certain there will be more zip about their games in Belfast. “We want to go out and improve on the performance on Friday, be better, move the ball quicker,” confirmed Oxtoby, while Callaghan declared: “We will definitely be on it. We’ll look to our strengths and we’ll go with a lot of tempo.”
