From horror to delight for Ferns defender

Hannah Mackay-Wright dropped to the ground with guilt.

The centreback thought she had just cost New Zealand a place in the Under-17 Women’s World Cup semifinals, after scoring an own goal in the quarterfinal against Japan. She did not know where to look.

‘‘When it happened, honestly, I just sat down on the ground for what felt like forever. I thought ‘I’ve just stuffed this for the whole nation’. I felt so bad,’’ she said.

That was until goalkeeper Anna Leat, scorer of the matchwinning penalty in the shootout, rushed over to give her fallen team-mate some words of encouragement.

‘‘Anna came and picked me up and said ‘come on, head up’.’’

Mackay-Wright has watched the replay of her unfortunate error but still cannot work out how she managed to do it.

The ball seemed to get tangled in her feet when she rushed back to block Momoka Kinoshita’s shot and she ended up toeing it into her own goal.

‘‘I don’t even know what happened. I got it in my legs and I thought I was popping it out but it just dropped and I turned and kicked it side-foot into the goal.

‘‘It was so gumpy of me. I’ve watched it so many times but because we won it has been a lot easier. All the girls give me banter about it but I’m fine about it now.’’

Mackay-Wright watched nervously during the shootout but breathed a little easier when Leat slotted the conclusive penalty to send New Zealand through to the semifinals for the first time. They take on European champions Spain tomorrow.

‘‘I was so happy it was Anna who won it for us because she’s always got my back. I felt like I let her down when I conceded a goal but she was able to save us and it was just amazing,’’ she said.

‘‘I’ve never played with a goalkeeper that has such a wide variety of skills.

‘‘She’s always talking to me and picking me up when I’m dying on the field. I have so much trust in her.’’

After celebrating with her team-mates, Mackay-Wright walked over to the sidelines to be comforted by her family, who have travelled to Uruguay from Nelson and Auckland to watch her play.

‘‘I went over to my brother and said ‘I can’t believe I’ve scored an own goal’. But he said at least I chased the whole way back and I was there, otherwise it would have gone in anyway.

‘‘It felt so good that they saw it positively.’’