Northern Ireland 0-4 Norway: Shoots of optimism for NI despite ‘mammoth’ task

Magill says her players will need to “pick ourselves up” ahead of the second leg in Oslo on Tuesday.

Of course, the second-half performance will certainly help with that.

With the game in the bag, Norway undoubtedly took their foot off the gas in the closing stages, but Northern Ireland did look genuinely threatening as injury time approached.

While McCarron added defensive solidity, the introduction of teenager Keri Halliday added a spark going forward that helped put the underdogs on the front foot in the closing stages.

“I think this is the next step for us, when we actually have the ball against top sides that we need to relax a little bit more,” said Magill.

“We need to trust that we have the capabilities of doing something with it and not panicking.

“Yes, it largely was an out of possession game for us but there were moments where we were trying to create little bits and pieces.

“We’ll go back, review the game and try and approach Tuesday’s game with a very fresh mindset.”