‘An incredible feeling’ - Julie Nelson scored Northern Ireland’s first major tournament goal in Norway defeat

Record-cap holder Julie Nelson headed home Northern Ireland’s first goal at a major tournament in their 4-1 European Championship defeat to Norway. It was also the countries first appearance in a major tournament, where they lost out to Euro contenders Norway thanks to goals from Julie Blakstad, Frida Maanum, Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten.

Ad/> “We knew it was going to be a difficult task,” Nelson said. “They’re not 11th in the world for no reason, and we were a bit nervy probably the first 15 minutes and conceded a couple of goals, but I thought we stepped up after that and did our best.

TransfersMan United reach agreement with Arsenal to sign England international Parris2 HOURS AGO Northern Ireland enjoyed a much better second half and made it far more difficult for Norway to find joy in front of goal, and Nelson was full of praise for her side's effort. “We restricted them,” she said.

“They didn’t have many chances in the second half, and I think we built on the strength that we needed after conceding, we made ourselves hard to beat and that’s what we need to do. Despite the loss, Nelson and the rest of the Northern Ireland team will surely see tonight’s game as a positively historic one, and the 37-year-old admitted it was “incredible” to score her country’s first goal at a major tournament.