Muller takes positives from Belgian defeats

Ireland senior women’s coach Gene Muller insisted his side’s World Cup qualification preparation were very much on track, despite losing to Belgium for the second time in three days.

While Friday’s 3-0 defeat could be blamed on rustiness, conceding a last-minute goal to lose 2-1 yesterday was disappointing, particularly after Michelle Harvey’s drag-flick had given the Irish an early lead in Nivelles. However, Muller can be encouraged by improved performance levels.

“We created goal chances which should have put the game out of reach by half time,” he lamented Muller.

“Instead of a buffer of a few goals, we ended up losing with only a minute left on the clock.

“Generally, these matches were very beneficial in our World Cup qualifier preparations. We are experimenting with players and tactics and we will use our next matches in England and the Celtic Cup to continue with this process.”

Muller had earlier professed himself satisfied with the impact made by his two news caps, Audrey O’Flynn and Nicci Daly, insisting that they “acquitted themselves well”.