Women's World Cup: Northern Ireland round off campaign with victory

Northern Ireland had to come from behind to beat Latvia and with it secure third place in Group D of the Women's World Cup qualification phase.

While they didn't qualify for the finals, the victory does mean the side collected the most amount of points in a group stage in their history with 19.

Six wins, one draw and just three defeats in the group represents another step in the team's progression following this Summer's Euros.

Despite dominating the early exchanges, Northern Ireland somehow found themselves a goal behind just before the half hour. It came following some hesitant defending and that allowed Anastasija Rocane to get on the end of a corner.

That was on 27 minutes, but the visitors levelled soon after when Latvian goalkeeper Enija-Anna Vaivode fumbled a Demi Vance corner from the right into your own net.

The second half was much of the same with the girls in white the better of the two sides.

Captain Marissa Callaghan saw her effort come off the bar midway through the half, before raft of changes saw more chances materialise.

Kirsty McGuinness and Rebecca Holloway, both subs, went close inside the final 20 minutes.

While goalkeeper Jackie Burns did have to pull off a fine stop to deny Latvia a leveller, Carragh Hamilton rounded off the scoring via a deflection off Latvian goalkeeper Vaivode.

MATCH STATS

Latvia: Vaivode, Voitane, Lubina, Rocane, Poluhovica, Gornela, Smirnova (Zaicikova 54), Miksone, Treimane, Danilova (Fedotova 54), Sevcova

Subs not used: Nesterova, Garanca, Lodzina, Vitmore, Zacmane, Sklemenova, Freidenfelde, Senberga, Druvina

Northern Ireland: Burns, McKenna, Vance, McFadden, Mason (K McGuinness 69), Finnegan (Magee 68), Caldwell, Callaghan (Holloway 69), Hamilton, C McGuinness (Beattie 82), Wilson (McCarron 69)

Subs not used: Nelson, McDaniel, Turner, McKimm, Wade, Andrews, Woods