Northern Ireland kicked off their Turkish Women’s Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Kazakhstan.
The friendly, arranged after both Nigeria and Kosovo ‘B’ withdrew from the competition, saw Kirsty McGuinness and Lauren Wade both mark their return by getting on the scoresheet.
Alfie Wylie’s side took the lead after just four minutes as Megan Bell knocked down a Marissa Callaghan cross for McGuinness to toe poke the ball home from six yards.
Moments later it was 2-0 as a defence splitting pass from Laura Rafferty found Wade who hit an effort across the Kazakhstan keeper into the bottom of the net.
Northern Ireland: Burns, Newborough, Guy, Holdaway, Hutton, Rafferty, Callaghan, Bell, Sherwood, McGuinness, Wade. Used subs: Foy, Wilson, Lindsay, McMaster, McKenna, McDaniel.
They Irish next play on Friday in a Group C game with Romania, who began with a 0-0 draw against Ukraine.
In Group A, Poland took the points 2-0 versus Jordan and Mexico sank Latvia 5-0, while France ‘B’ hit Kosovo for six in Group B.
