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Martha Thomas’ second-half strike gave Scotland a narrow but significant advantage over Hungary in their Euro 2025 qualifying play-off clash in the Bozsik Arena.
Neither side hit the heights but on the hour mark the Tottenham striker made the difference when she hammered the ball in from close range for a 1-0 first-leg win.
Pedro Martinez Losa’s side will take that welcome lead into the second leg at Easter Road next Tuesday where the Scots should be confident of getting through to meet the winners of the Finland versus Montenegro semi, with the prospect of making a first appearance at the European Championship finals since 2017 acting as a driver.
Elsewhere, Wales‘ hopes of reaching Euro 2025 were dented by a 2-1 play-off first-leg defeat to Slovakia in Poprad.
Stunning second-half strikes from Martina Surnovska and Maria Mikolajova put Slovakia in command against below-par visitors.
But Ffion Morgan‘s excellent 89th-minute finish gave Wales hope ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final second leg in Cardiff.
Things were rather more comfortable for the Republic of Ireland as a Katie McCabe double helped them on their way to a thumping 6-0 win over Georgia in the first leg of their play-off in Tbilisi.
Ireland made their attacking intentions known from the outset but had to wait until the 35th minute to make their breakthrough, with McCabe‘s penalty giving them a half-time lead following a handball.
Second-half strikes from Kyra Carusa, McCabe, Jessie Stapleton, Marissa Sheeva and Aoife Mannion and all but secured a tie with Slovakia as the Republic bid to reach their first European Championships.
And in Varazdin, a late own goal rescued a draw for Northern Ireland as Croatia defender Izabela Lojna scored at both ends.
Lojna had put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot inside five minutes and helped frustrate the visitors for the rest of the encounter.
But a bobbly pitch had caused constant problems, and Casey Howe’s low cross was deflected in off the Croatian’s leg in the second minute of additional time to ensure Tanya Oxtoby’s side remain very much in the mix to progress.
PA