Women's Nations League: Second half goals see Northern Ireland take control
Montenegro 0 Northern Ireland 2
Northern Ireland produced a dominant display to take a commanding lead into the second leg of their Nations League Play-Off on Tuesday night.
Second half headers from Lauren Wade and Demi Vance were enough for Tanya Oxtoby's side to deservedly win the match and go into the return tie at Windsor Park confident of maintaining their League B position.
They dominated the match against their lower-ranked opposition ad had the bulk of the possession throughout the clash in Podgorica, but it took until the 71st minute to break down a stubborn home rearguard.
It came when Vance clipped a ball into the unmarked Wade in the box and the Reading forward angled her header into the bottom right hand corner of the net and out of the reachof Montenegro goalkeeper Anastasija Krstovic.
The visitors then doubled their lead a minute into stoppage time at the end of the game to put a fairer reflection on their superiority throughout.
This time Vance, the provider for the first goal, turned goalscorer as he she finished off a slick move to power her header home from Rebecca McKenna's inch-perfect cross.
Northern Ireland will now aim to finish the job when the two sides meet again in Belfast next week.
Kick-off at the National Stadium at Windsor Park on Tuesday February 27th at 7pm.
MATCH STATS
Montenegro: Krstovic, Saric, Popovic, Djurkovic, Bozic, Djukic, Karlicic, Bulatovic (C), Djokovic (Tomasevic 66), Desic (Vujadinovic 66), Kuc
Subs not used: Boricic, Durdevac, Janjusevic, Kalac (GK), Osmajic, Petrovic, Radunovic, Rakocevic, Simonovic, Zugic (GK)
Northern Ireland: Harvey-Clifford, Rafferty, McFadden (Mason 50), Vance, McCarron, Andrews (Caldwell 80), McKenna, Callaghan(C) (Bell 66), Wade (Dugdale 80), Magill, Maxwell (Hamilton 66)
Subs not used: Perry (GK), Turner (GK), Beattie, Burrows, Finnegan, Halliday, Wilson