Northern Ireland: England 'a big obstacle to overcome' - NI manager Shiels
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Ellen White scored a hat-trick as England outclassed Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels has said there were "positives and negatives" from Tuesday's 6-0 defeat by England at St. George's Park.
Ellen White scored a hat-trick and goals from Lucy Bronze, Rachel Daly and Ella Toone secured a comfortable win.
The friendly was Northern Ireland's sole match before April's Euro 2022 play-off.
"Technically we matched them but they were so quick that we couldn't get tight enough to them," said Shiels.
Sheils admitted his team, predominantly made of part-time players, faced an uphill task against a side which was filled with Women's Super League regulars from Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal.
NI continued Shiels' philosophy of playing out from the back and conceded three first-half goals with the wind heavily against them. England continued where they left off after the restart and cruised to victory.
"There were some positives and some negatives. England are stronger and quicker than us and that was a big obstacle for us to overcome," he said.
"We lost the toss and they had the wind in their favour. Our girls needed a spark and that took away our opportunity to get some confidence. They were all over us and we couldn't get up the pitch.
"When we had the wind in the second half, we have so many part-time players that we used up their energy. It was unfortunate but the result doesn't matter. We found out about each other and the understanding of how how we want to play."
Rachel Furness says Northern Ireland will learn from playing England
The former Derry City and Kilmarnock boss was honest in his assessment and said Northern Ireland needed to improve in areas if they are to reach a first-ever European Championship finals.
"We made three uncharacteristic mistakes for the three goals and I wish we could have been a bit more competitive," he said.
"We have to be more intelligent with our movement to get on the ball, that wasn't as good as it could have been, but you have to congratulate England.
"If I'm running against Linford Christie he's going to beat me. That is an accurate comparison."
We kept our identity - Furness
Northern Ireland midfielder Rachel Furness said that the team were disappointed with the result but added it was important to learn from any mistakes.
"We want to play football and we don't just want to defend for our lives. I know we have conceded six but we didn't give up and we didn't stop trying to play," said the Liverpool player.
"You want to play against some of the best players in the world. We know how good England are and how good they are at keeping the ball.
"I know we have learnt a lot from the game. We have stuck together, kept our identity and we have continued to play out from the back.
"We know we will come up against a strong team in the play-off so we want to take some positives from today and build on that for those matches."