Northern Ireland: England defeat a crucial step on NI's journey if Kenny Shiels' side learn from mistakes

Becky Flaherty denied hat-trick star Ellen White more goals at St. George's Park

No player, manager or fan wants to be on the end of a 6-0 scoreline. It goes against everything you know as a competitor.

However it is good to have a bit of perspective. Going up against England, who are 43 places higher in the world rankings, was always going to be a difficult mission for Northern Ireland.

Kenny Shiels was missing several key players and many of his squad hadn't played a competitive match since December.

England had something to prove in their first match under interim boss Hege Riise and came firing out of the blocks. Their decision to play with the strong wind behind them in the first half after winning the toss was the right one, and it forced Northern Ireland to camp in their own half in the opening 45 minutes.

Northern Ireland made mistakes and the hosts were clinical, particularly the in-form Ellen White and Lucy Bronze. They gave everything, as we are used to, but came up short against a team full of quality and experience.

Ultimately, Northern Ireland simply aren't at England's level, but it gives them a taste of where they want to go.

The good, the bad and the promising

Shiels admitted there were "positives and negatives" to take from a blustery afternoon at St. George's Park. Let's get the negatives out of the way.

Well, there's the scoreline for starters, even if Shiels said he wasn't taking that into consideration. England looked really sharp and seemed to beat Northern Ireland to every second ball. Player-to-player, there was no question of which side looked the more composed with the ball.

"It's a big task and we were against the wall. I was disappointed that we didn't get enough around their half of the pitch," said an honest Shiels.

"It was probably a good friendly for them but it was difficult for us."

We knew that Shiels would stick to his guns in terms his style of play and that cost Northern Ireland two goals in the first half - but every mistake can turn into a positive if you learn from it.

Becky Flaherty had a strong game in goal after deputising for Jackie Burns. She made some excellent saves to stop White adding to her tally and was always looking to start building from the back. Abbie Magee also extremely looked composed at right-back.

Shiels is in a difficult spot given the lack of domestic action. He started with his tried and trusted bodies but gave several youngsters a chance at the end of the game. Of the 22 players in Shiels' squad, 12 were 23-year-old or younger. Playing against a team of England's calibre can only been seen as a good thing for this next generation.

"We definitely got a lot from it and I think it was a brilliant experience for them," added Shiels.

"The part-time players, which is 90% of the squad, will be coming in Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday to try and work on the tactics, the technique and the physicality. We are mixing it up and everything is about April and how we play then."

Then there was the effort and attitude, which was everything we have come to expect from those in a green shirt.

Did Northern Ireland show England too much respect? Possibly. However they also got that in return and that speaks volumes about the progress that has been made over the past 12 months.

NI will go again

Potentially the biggest positive you can take is that potential play-off opposition won't be of England's calibre at sixth in the world.

Italy are the highest-ranked potential opponent at 13th, then Switzerland at 19th before Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Portugal all vary between 23rd and 30th in the world which isn't a million miles away from NI.

"We will forget about the result in a few day's time because our focus will be on the play-off," he added.

"We lost 6-0 to Norway, rebounded and had a magnificent performance, we lost 6-0 again to Norway and we came back again. I know we can do that a third time."

Abbie Magee put in a strong showing against Manchester City winger Lauren Hemp

Rachel Furness, who is one of those players who has been there and seen it all, has her eyes firmly focused on the play-off.

"We need to accept this result, know where we need to be better and build on today," said the Liverpool midfielder.

"England are one of the best teams in the world and if you make a mistake against a top side then they are going to punish you. We have to continue to try and do the right things.

"We have to learn going into the play-off and if we take two or three things from the game into that then that is the most important thing."

If Shiels' side learn from England then the experience will have been extremely valuable and a crucial step in the team's journey. They have bounced back from 6-0 defeats before and will be aiming to do it once more for the ultimate prize - a spot at the Euro 2022 finals.