Scots women braced for big night in bid to make Euros

IN the last European Championships, both Scotland and the Republic of Ireland made it through to the play-offs only to be eliminated at that stage. This time round, having been drawn together in Group 4, only one of them can qualify behind France – and tonight’s meeting at Tynecastle will go a long way towards deciding which.

Scotland have four points from three games, two fewer than Ireland. Both teams have lost to France but beaten Israel, the difference to date being their results against Wales: the Irish won 2-0 in Newport, whereas Anna Signeul’s team could only draw 2-2 at home.

Victory at Hearts’ ground tonight will go some way to counteracting the damage done by those dropped points against the Welsh, but it will be hard to bring down an Irish defence who, in Arsenal’s Emma Byrne, have one of the best goalkeepers in the game.

At 32 Byrne has had more than her share of disappointments, including that play-off defeat by Iceland in the last competition. Yesterday she warned that the squad were ready to crush Scotland’s hopes of going one better.

“I feel there is an expectation,” Byrne said. “We’re at that level now and it’s time to start making a difference.

“We’ve been floating around for a long time and it’s time to take that next step. Last time we felt we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“We really feel it’s a possibility this year: when we were drawn in the group we were really confident. Mentally, it’s good to play teams we know.”

It remains to be seen whether that last assertion holds true for Byrne and her team-mates, but she certainly knows the Scottish team well, and plays alongside several of them at Arsenal. “They’ve got Kim Little – she’s probably one of the best in Europe at the moment,” she added. “Jennifer Beattie, a top player, and Julie Fleeting – who’s luckily out having a baby, which we’re all very happy about.

“I think we’re very similar teams. We’re on the same level as them. Scotland will be hard to beat but we’re quite confident.”

Beattie missed last week’s 2-0 defeat in Le Havre because of injury, and Signeul has given her only a slim chance of being able to take her place in the squad this evening.

But the coach’s hopes have been buoyed by the fact that, even without such an important player, Scotland held their own for much of the game against the French, who she rates as possibly the best side on the continent at present.