Luxembourg 1-2 Northern Ireland: Shiels sets sights on history after 'rusty' World Cup qualifier

Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels says it would be a "fantastic achievement" if his side can create history in World Cup qualifying.

Victory over Latvia on Tuesday would mark a record points tally in a women's qualifying campaign.

NI side sit on 16 points following Friday's 2-1 win away to Luxembourg, which Shiels described as "rusty".

"We are on the verge of creating history again and we want to see that over the line," he added.

"If we can get that we will have accumulated 19 points which is phenomenal, believe me, when you have England and Austria in the group.

"I'm delighted with what we have done, absolutely delighted."

• NI beat Luxembourg in first match since Euro 2022

In their first match since the Euro 2022 finals, defender Sarah McFadden netted the opener in the second half before Northern Ireland were given a scare when Amy Thompson netted an equaliser.

However, the home forward was sent-off for a second yellow card for her celebration, and Rebecca McKenna netted a winner five minutes later to secure third position in Group D.

Northern Ireland were without several key attacking players, including Simone Magill, Lauren Wade and Rachel Furness, and Shiels admits the absence of a trio who had netted 15 of NI's 31 goals in qualifying "put a lot of pressure on us".

"We hammered away at it and we got our goal. Both of our goals were scored by defenders because we didn't have that experience," Shiels added, before praising teenage striker Caitlin McGuinness, who started and hit the crossbar in the first half.

"Caitlin McGuinness did really, really well and I was delighted with her, but the ball wouldn't go into the net. You get matches like that.

"It was bereft of atmosphere and the girls needed a shaking. We tried to do that and the ball wouldn't run for us.

"We were down on numbers but we gave young players the experience and I'll be adding to that in the next game."