Stephen Craigan
Former Northern Ireland defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Marissa Callaghan is playing in a false-nine in possession and is dropping back out of it.

Effectively, Northern Ireland are playing without a centre-forward.

Image source, Getty Images

Austria break down the left but the cross comes to nothing.

Northern Ireland play out from the back - that is the Kenny Shiels way.

Think we will call that an early introduction from Rebecca Holloway on Julia Hickelsberger-Fuller.

A strong tackle in the opening minute.

Here we go then as Northern Ireland kick-off.

Both teams got off to a losing start,

Who will put that right in the St Mary's sunshine this evening?

The team huddles are done.

Seconds away.....

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Gleave
Head of sports analysis, Nielsen Gracenote

Julie Nelson's goal against Norway made her the all-time oldest European Championship goalscorer. Nelson was 37 years and 33 days old and made her international debut 18 years ago, when her youngest current teammate Caitlin McGuinness was just one year old.

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI at St Mary's

Rachel Furness and Simone Magill are really close off the pitch so that's a classy, classy touch.

There's no doubt Simone will be Northern Ireland's number one fan today.

Caragh Hamilton
Northern Ireland international on BBC One

Northern Ireland need to get the press right. Carina Wenninger is very comfortable on the ball and they need to put her under pressure when she begins to drive forward, otherwise she’s more than capable of hurting them with those driving runs.

Rachel Furness holds injured striker Simone Magill's shirt while the anthem is played.

Respect.

Image source, Press Eye

Less than five minutes to go and the players make that walk out of the tunnel and on to the pitch.

Spine-tingling stuff.

Now it's anthem time.

This match was always going to be the best opportunity for Northern Ireland to get a win at their maiden major tournament.

And now, having lost their opener against Norway, defender Demi Vance has labelled this evening's match against Austria as "do or die" for her side.

"It's must-win for us, but over the past few years that has always been our mentality," said Vance.

Read more of the left-back's thoughts here.

Image source, Getty Images

Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels and fit-again captain Marissa Callaghan appeared before the media on Sunday, and both stressed the need for their team to play without fear.

Midfielder Callaghan admitted that they began with nerves in their opener against Norway on Thursday, but that they can take hope with how they played their way into the game.

Shiels said he would put Austria on a par with England and the Norwegians, but that his side will be playing for a win which he believes is "achievable".

Read more of their thoughts here.

Image source, Press Eye

Northern Ireland winger Caragh Hamilton would almost certainly be out in Southampton as part of Kenny Shiels' squad at the Euros if she wasn't injured.

Working as a BBC TV pundit for the tournament, the 25-year-old has also given us her thoughts in a column for the BBC Sport website.

She is full of praise for Marissa Callaghan and Sarah McFadden, and has called on NI to play with freedom in what she describes as a "winnable game" against Austria.

We'll hear more from Caragh as the tournament progresses, and you can read her first column in full here.

Image source, Gabby Logan

She was on the bench for the opener, but Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan will lead from the start for Kenny Shiels this evening.

Image source, inpho

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI at St Mary's

There's a decent atmosphere building here as kick-off approaches.

It's hard to tell how many are here, but it looks to be in and around the same number as the opening game against Norway, which was just over 9,000 people.

There's going to be a great noise when the teams come out in just over five minutes.

Stephen Craigan
Former Northern Ireland defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Privately, Northern Ireland's players would have looked at the tournament and gone Austria is the game we can win.

But also Austria will be looking at Northern Ireland and saying that this is the game we have to win in order to get out of the group.

Northern Ireland and Austria have previous. And very recent previous, too.

It doesn't happen often in international football, but this evening's match in St Mary's will be the third meeting in the past eight months between the sides.

In October, Northern Ireland were denied a famous victory over Austria in added time in Belfast. The part-timers came from a goal down to lead 2-1 heading into the extra minutes before conceding at the death.

Then, in April, Austria capitalised on what was described as nine minutes of madness, pouncing on errors to net three first-half goals as the hosts ran out 3-1 winners to all-but-end Northern Ireland's hopes of reaching a maiden World Cup.

Image source, Press Eye

Andy Gray
BBC Sport NI at St Mary's

It’s hard to emphasise just how big a loss Simone Magill is for Northern Ireland, both on and off the pitch.

She leads Northern Ireland’s charge from the front, and her ability and eye for goal gives Kenny Shiels' side a key attacking outlet.

However, this is not the first time Northern Ireland have lost a big player before a crucial game. They were without five regular squad players for their play-off victory over Ukraine in April 2021, and before October’s World Cup qualifier with Austria they lost five more players due to a Covid case on the flight home from the previous game in Wembley.

They picked up a superb 2-2 draw with Austria in Belfast that night, with only an injury-time goal stopping them landing a famous victory, and this tight-knit group will use Magill’s injury as motivation heading into the game.