England 4-0 Northern Ireland: Kenny Shiels vows NI will learn from Wembley defeat
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Northern Ireland were unlocked by a clinical 15 minute spell from England
Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels admits his side were beaten by the better team in Saturday's 4-0 defeat by England in World Cup qualifying at Wembley.
Despite heavy pressure from the hosts, who hit the woodwork twice in the first-half, Northern Ireland stood resilient and firm until Beth Mead fired home the opener on 64 minutes.
While NI's achievement to date has been something of a fairytale, ultimately the difference between Shiels' part-time side and a professional outfit like England was exposed when Arsenal forward Mead netted a hat-trick just 14 minutes after coming on.
While Sarina Wiegman has some of the best players in the world at her disposal, Shiels is working with players who have booked time off work to represent their country. It's part of what makes NI's journey so appealing, the ultimate underdog story, but looking at it in black and white the squad is not at the same level as their opponents and it told at Wembley, however it is an indicator of where they want to be.
Despite the difference in quality, Shiels side showed real courage to stay in the game. The substitutions finally broke Northern Ireland's resistance, and once Mead opened the scoring there was an air of inevitability that England would take advantage of the talent at their disposal.
"They beat us through their athleticism and their stronger bench. Their bench was too strong, too quick and there wasn't much we could do about it," admitted Shiels.
"I wouldn't say we were comfortable in the first hour but we dealt with everything they threw at us.
"Their fitness beat us tonight. They hit a brick wall but brought on their bench to strengthen. I always want our success to be through tactical nous and good possession play.
"The best team won and we can't disagree with that."
Around 500 Northern Ireland fans made the trip to Wembley
With the occasion and grandeur that comes with a competitive game at Wembley, Shiels believes his players felt "a level of stress" early in the game.
"You can imagine, you come from Northern Ireland, you are playing at Wembley Stadium against one of the best teams in the world.
"The psychology of that makes it very difficult for young girls especially, and experienced ones, and that restricts how much they can express themselves.
"There was mistakes in the players' technical game tonight, in terms of using the ball and ball retention.
"I thought there was a certain level of stress in the early parts of the game. It was a little bit out of character, but we bedded into the game and we done defensively well considering the opposition."
'Players are always learning'
Just like in tournament football, Northern Ireland have to reset and go again on Tuesday against Austria. Despite the hype around Saturday's game at Wembley, Tuesday was always set to be the bigger game in terms of the final reckoning in Group D.
England are expected to run away as group winners, leaving Northern Ireland and Austria to fight it out for second spot and the play-off that comes with it.
With such an important game and a quick turnaround, Shiels says this set of fixtures will be valuable when it comes to Euro 2022 next summer.
"It is great timing, with the calibre of opposition in Austria and England in succession now, and that being repeated in April, will certainly help us in our preparation for July," added the 65-year-old.
"They learnt a lot in that environment. Psychologically they will be a bit more switched on for the next time we meet in April.
"We are at home against Austria, who are a fantastic team. It is important that we be competitive in our group games. We will have to pick a team that is fresh.
"The experience tonight was good and there will be more good experiences on Tuesday. We will try our best to be more attack-minded and give a good account of ourselves on Tuesday.
"There were periods of the game where we didn't have enough confidence, but we will deal with that and correct it in the Austria game."