Late goals from Lauren Wade and Demi Vance give Northern Ireland upper hand in Nations League Play-Off

Montenegro 0 Northern Ireland 2

Northern Ireland’s Lauren Wade celebrates scoring against Montenegro during Friday’s UEFA Women's Nations League play-off at the Gradski Stadion in Podgorica

It’s advantage Northern Ireland in their Nations League Play-off after a dominant performance was rewarded with 2-0 victory over Montenegro in Podgorica.

Despite controlling the game almost from start to finish it wasn’t until the final 20 minutes that the goals came thanks to Lauren Wade and Demi Vance, with almost identical finishes from close-range headers.

The second came just as the game entered injury time and that, plus a shortage of attacking threat and quality in the Montenegro performance, will give manager Tanya Oxtoby and her players confidence that they will complete the job in the second leg at Windsor Park on Tuesday.

At no stage did Montenegro show the kind of adventure you might expect from a team seeking to make the most of home advantage.

Northern Ireland goal scorers Lauren Wade and Demi Vance after defeating Montenegro 2-0 in Friday’s UEFA Women's Nations League play-off at the Gradski Stadion in Podgorica. Photo by William Cherry/Presseye

That approach was all the more strange given that they had given Northern Ireland an early scare after only 90 seconds when Armisa Kuc, who entered the game high on confidence after scoring five goals in the group campaign, just failed to a header on target from a corner.

As it turned out though that wasn’t really a warning sign for Northern Ireland, who quickly began to get to grips with the game before going on to dominate throughout.

When chances came early it looked like only a matter of time before Northern Ireland would score.

An excellent move that flowed from right to