The hosts limited their side to zero shots on goal and things went from bad to worse for Czechia, as they were reduced to ten players when Barbora Votikova was shown a straight red card with 14 minutes to play. Then in the dying stages, substitute Jennifer Klein, who had been on the pitch for less than ten minutes, came up with the goods to seal the tie in Austria’s favour.
Unfortunately, Eva Nyström and Oona Siren’s Finland will not be joining Austria in League A as they lost 8-1 on aggregate to Denmark following a 2-0 second-leg loss at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.
Both of the east Londoners started the game. Centre-back Nyström played all 90 minutes, whilst Siren was withdrawn with one minute or normal time remaining, as the hosts struck two second-half goals to maintain their spot in League A.
However, there was delight for Jessie Stapleton and Jess Ziu, as the Republic of Ireland achieved promotion to League A after a last-minute goal against Amber Tysiak’s Belgium won them the play-off at King Power at Den Dreef Stadion.
Both Tysiak and Stapleton started at centre-back, and it was the former who was celebrating come half-time, as a Tessa Wullaert brace pulled the aggregate score level to 4-4.
Our No5 was withdrawn on 66 minutes in Lueven, but her side then conceded at the very last, as Abbie Larkin remained composed in front of goal to swing the tie in the favour of the Republic of Ireland come full-time.