Q Radio Sport
Northern Ireland have sealed third place at the eight-team Alanya Gold City Women’s Cup in Turkey.
Alfie Wylie’s team beat Uzbekistan 2-1 on Tuesday in the third/fourth place play-off match with goals from Sarah McFadden and Rachel Furness.
It was a sixth goal in four games for attacking midfielder Furness.
The Reading Ladies player hit a hat-trick in the 6-0 win over Jordan in Northern Ireland’s first group game in Turkey before netting again in the 3-1 defeat to France B and in the 4-0 victory over Kazakhstan which secured a place in the play-off match.
NI scored after just two minutes against the Uzbeks. Rachel Newborough supplied a cross from the right which was powerfully headed home by midfielder McFadden.
In the 10th minute Furness made it 2-0 with another fine effort. She followed up her brilliant volley against Kazakhstan with a shot from outside the area.
The early part of the second half saw Northern Ireland pile on the pressure again but Uzbekistan reduced the deficit on 66 minutes when they scored directly from a corner.
In the closing stages the Uzbeks put the Northern Ireland back four under pressure and they hit the woodwork on 83 minutes.
Wylie’s side had to dig in to see out the game, but they managed it and secured third place overall in the process.
A good week's work for the girls in green.