Howe provides assist to secure win in Zenica
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 Qualifiers
CASEY Howe repaid Northern Ireland Women’s team manager Tanya Oxtoby with an assist on Tuesday in their win over Bosnia and Herzegovina after being called back into the squad.
Northern Ireland began their European qualifying campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to Malta on Friday night before a 3-1 win in Zenica four days later.
Howe revealed that a stomach bug had hit the squad meaning she missed out on the Malta game through illness before coming on as a substitute against Bosnia and Herzegovina with manager Oxtoby not making the trip over with a number of her backroom team also suffering from the bug.
“It was brilliant to get the callback, it’s been a while and I’ve been working to get that call back into the squad so to be brought in for these qualifying games was brilliant,” said Howe.
“I had a tough week because during the training week, I had come down with a stomach bug that was going about and it knocked me out completely of the Malta game, so, that was frustrating from my perspective waiting so long to get in and then getting hit by a stomach bug.
“I suppose then I worked hard to get back fit and ready for the game on the Tuesday against Bosnia and I was delighted to come on and get minutes and help the team to get the three points as well by providing that assist, it was brilliant.”
Despite the circumstances, the Athlone Town star says her teammates were still frustrated to not open with a win against Malta: “Yeah they were disappointed after the game against Malta, having a goal disallowed and stuff like that didn’t help but ultimately they were disappointed in their performance, so, I suppose when you look at the week we had, with the bug going around and just different things happening within the squad, it was good to get the four points but in the return fixtures for this game we will be looking to get maximum points.”
Four points leave Northern Ireland second in Group B3 with leaders Portugal winning both games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malta.
Oxtoby’s side will play Portugal back-toback at the end of May/start of June with Howe keen to be involved.
“It’s definitely given me a taste of being back in the squad and my aim was obviously to retain my spot in the squad and push on from there,” she added.
“I’ve got some minutes under my belt and so I’d like to progress from that and push on and get more minutes and potentially start games and start really implementing what I can do for the team,” concluded the Athlone Town player.