BELL RINGS A CHANGE FOR LADIES OLD GUARD

COLIN BELL has pleaded with his Irish women’s team to shock the football world by splitting Holland and Norway in their World Cup qualification group.

Since Bell (above) took charge 14 months ago, the Girls in Green have given themselves the best chance ever to reach a major tournament by opening the campaign with two wins and a draw.

Ireland enter a vital six days with Slovakia coming to Tallaght Stadium on Friday before the second part in the double-header of qualifiers against Euro champions Holland next Tuesday.

The Irish produced the result of the campaign last time out by holding the Dutch scoreless in November. Still, they will likely have to beat second seeds Norway in June to seal at least a play-off shot at reaching next year’s showpiece in France.

Before that, despite Bell refusing to brand it a must-win game, there can be no margin of error against the Slovaks.

The manager believes that, despite the absence of three key players through injury and their struggles in attack, Ireland can maintain the push to end their qualification drought.

“Goalscoring is definitely a situation we need to improve on,” he admitted yesterday.

“The players have to create more chances and then take them when they do come.

“We beat Slovakia 2-0 away last October by soaking up their pressure and hitting them on the counterattack. Just because we’re at home this time doesn’t mean the players should start thinking that all of a sudden things need to change.

“It’s basically about trying to find the right balance between attacking and defending.

“Of course, we will miss Stephanie Roche (imset), Harriet Scott and Megan Campbell but others players will get their chance.

“We are total outsiders in this group. Holland are theoretically lightyears ahead of us while Norway have won the Euros before and have world-class players. We can enjoy wanting to cause and upset and giving a good account of ourselves.”