Casey Howe played a pivotal role as Northern Ireland advanced into the next round of Euro Championship Qualifiers on Tuesday night with a win over Croatia.

Howe came off the bench in Varaždin to create her side’s equaliser, in injury time, as her cross was steered into the net by Croatia’s own Izabela Lojna, who also opened the scoring on Friday night.

On Tuesday, Howe started in the return leg at Windsor Park, and it was a close and cagey affair throughout in Belfast, going all the way to extra time until Lauren Wade’s strike from the edge of the box found the top right corner in the 114th minute.

A gleeful huddle surrounded manager Tanya Oxtoby after the game.

“I think it’s testament to the amount of work we’ve put in over the last number of months, we’ve dug deep and I think all that was really said was that Tanya’s proud of us for sticking in and digging deep,” Howe said.

“I know it was a late goal but it was the same on Friday night, it was a late equaliser. It just shows the character of the group to win games when it is getting tough.

"I always had that belief that we were gonna go on and win it, even when it did go to extra-time.

"We always had that belief that we were gonna win it, we just had to be patient. It’s been something we’ve talked about this camp, being patient and sticking to our principles.

"We did that and got the rewards for it.”

Howe’s creativity from the left-wing sparked Northern Ireland’s leveller in the 92nd minute in the first leg and likely had a big change on how Tuesday’s game played out.

“I don’t think I realised how big of an impact it was till after the second game and how vital that goal, which was an own goal, proved to be, the way Croatia set-up,” she added.

“I can imagine if they had of went to Windsor with a 1-0 win, they probably would have sat and defended and made it even more difficult for us.”

Northern Ireland finished second behind Portugal in Group B3 having picked up wins against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Malta.

Howe admitted knock-out football feels different: “Every play-off game regardless of who you play is going to be difficult, regardless of who you play because nobody wants to go out in the play-offs, nobody wants to lose those games.

"Regardless of who you play, it’s always going to be more difficult and Croatia certainly made it difficult for us to break them down.

"I think it was shown over the last two games at how difficult it was, but we stuck in there and have come away with winning the play-off and it’s now on to Norway.”

Oxtoby’s side face a stern test in the form of Norway who recorded a 14-0 aggregate win over Albania in their opening round, winning 9-0 in Oslo on Tuesday.

“Norway are one of the best teams in the world. We’ve played them a few times and have suffered some heavy defeats to them but with Tanya being in, with all her principles and philosophies, I think we can test ourselves against Norway and see how far we’ve really come. I do think it will be a difficult game and it will be a battle.”

Howe has settled into life well in Nottingham having made the switch from Athlone Town in August.

Forest sit second in the FA Women's National League North with a game in hand over leaders Wolverhampton.

“I’ve loved it, it’s been amazing to get into full-time football, it’s what I’ve always dreamed of, so, to be a professional footballer is great.

"I think the standard at Nottingham is really high, we all hold ourselves to a very high standard especially when you’re training on the facilities with the men’s team, it’s a very, very professional environment, it’s been very, very good.”