Ferns already looking forward

Hannah Wilkinson celebrates her stunning goal against Norway.
Photo: Photosport

A day on from the biggest win in the side’s history, the Football Ferns are already looking at what comes next.

The country is gripped with football fever following the incredible win over Norway at Eden Park last night.

The hero of the moment, Hannah Wilkinson, understandably struggled to get to sleep after her match winning goal which has immortalised her in New Zealand football history.

“It was a surreal feeling, sharing that moment with so many people and with hopefully a lot of the nation watching was so special.”

Her phone has been flooded ever since.

“Hearing the nation say that they’re proud of us and that it was just one of the best moments of kiwi sporting history, I think is a pretty special thing to hear.”

Hannah Wilkinson was superb on attack for the Ferns.
Photo: photosport

Written off by the majority, the Ferns say they always believed.

Wilkinson said as Jacqui Hand delivered her the cross for the match winner early in the second half, she knew it was going in the back of the net.

“I could feel it and the second I saw Jackie I knew that the cross was coming and I was like ‘this is that we’re scoring. We’re going one nil up now.'”

Coach Jitka Klimkova said the nine minutes of added time were the longest of her life.

“We believed from the beginning. We were so prepared. We worked so hard for this moment and we stayed we stayed calm, we stayed focused, and we did it.”

She said her entire village in the Czech Republic tuned into the game.

Jitka Klimkova said she always believed a victory was possible.
Photo: Photosport

“We want to inspire that the young girls and boys playing football and our performance and the win in the end of the day definitely help the football madness in New Zealand.”

Wilkinson concurred.

“Being a host of a world cup the hope was that we will create a legacy of women’s football.”

The 31-year-old said they will enjoy the moment, but keep the big picture in mind.

“While we are celebrating and extremely happy, we’re already thinking about and preparing for the next game because we know how important that is, it was historic and it was an amazing achievement but we’ve still got a big job to do.”

Klimkova reiterated the attention has already shifted to the Phillippines in Wellington on Tuesday.

“We will focus on things that we’ve done well, things that we want to still keep improving. That’s our process. We’ve studied the Philippines, we know them very well and now we’ll just really focus on on little details that can help us to beat them again.”

The Football Ferns created history at Eden Park last night.
Photo: Photosport

-RNZ