Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels says women concede goals in quick succession because they are ‘more emotional than men’

Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels has claimed that his team concede goals in quick succession because ‘women are more emotional than men’.

Northern Ireland hosted England in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday evening and went 1-0 down after 26 minutes through Lauren Hemp’s goal.

Ella Toone doubled England’s lead in the second half before Hemp scored her second of the game eight minutes later. Georgia Stanway then scored twice in the space of nine minutes to complete England’s win.

The result means Northern Ireland have missed out on a place at next year’s Women’s World Cup, while England are on course to finish top of their qualifying group after winning all eight of their games so far.

But Shiels attracted widespread criticism after the game by claiming that his players had an ’emotional imbalance’ after England scored their goals.

‘I felt they [England] were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going 2-0 up in the women’s game, I’m sure you will have noticed if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal, they concede a second one in a very, very short space of time,’ Shiels said.

‘Right through the whole spectrum of the women’s game, because girls and women are more emotional than men. So, they take a goal going in not very well.

‘When we went 1-0 down we tried to slow it down to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their heads.

‘That’s an issue we have. Not just in Northern Ireland but all of the countries in the world. I shouldn’t have told you that.’

Former England goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain hit out at Shiels’ ‘bizarre’ verdict.

‘I think we all know that the five minutes after you concede a goal – not just in women’s football, [also] in men’s football –