Late strikes sink Football Ferns

Amber Hearn of the Football Ferns. Photo / Getty Images.

The Football Ferns were disappointed in Friday's 2-0 loss against Norway, despite dominating possession and territory for large parts of their second international in Stavanger.

After a 1-1 draw at the same indoor venue on Wednesday, the Football ferns were confident of a well-earned scalp against the world's number ninth ranked side.

The Football Ferns were unable to convert their possession and chances into goals and a defensive slip late in the game gifted the home side with a first goal nine minutes from fulltime, and then a second goal resulted after the Kiwis pushed forward in numbers looking for an equaliser.

Coach Tony Readings said his side were extremely disappointed.

"We played well and again played and out-performed a team in the top-10 in the world but not got any reward," Readings said.

"I felt we were more dominant today than the first game which makes the result ever harder to take."

Readings said he was contemplating further changes to push for the win late in the game, but instead it was the hosts who scored.

"Watching from sideline, we did not deserve a 0-0 draw because they never looked like scoring.

"It was a performance that was hard to fault in terms of effort, commitment and quality at times.

"We are at our best when we keep possession, look to make lots of passes and through balls and tire the opposition. We did that for longer periods today than in the first match but got no reward.

"I was looking at further substitutions to push for a win and Norway put a free kick into the box that we didn't deal with and then were caught pushing forward to get the equaliser."

The Football Ferns went to Europe as a key part of their preparations ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup in Canada.

"You can't always win but you can learn and this was another good learning for us.
"In two years we moved from a team that were out-performed against top teams to competing with, and in fact outplaying, top teams. Now we need to turn those performances into positive results.

"We are able to keep the ball and create chances but need to now work hard on producing quality ball and scoring more goals. That's the hardest job in football of course."

The team now go back to their various professional teams around the world and back in New Zealand before looking to further international fixtures next year in the lead-up to the World Cup in June.