What did we learn from McArdle's first two games in charge?

Rebecca McKenna and Mason are encouraged to get forward from full-back with Halliday, Lauren Wade or Maxwell tasked with staying wide and delivering crosses for the forward or onrushing midfielders in Andrews and Megan Bell.

Bell has been rejuvenated in the first two games under McArdle, making the team tick while Mason has found a home at left back after previously playing as a centre-back in a back three.

The tweak has certainly made NI a more exciting team to watch and has yielded results with back-to-back wins including a first away victory since July 2024 breading confidence.

It will be interesting to see how they set-up against a side like Turkey or Switzerland however given they are not expected to be on the front foot as much against higher quality opposition.

McKenna earns interim captaincy

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McKenna won her 61st cap against Malta on Saturday

Right-back McKenna has been handed the armband for both of McArdle's games which suggests she may be the chosen skipper in the absence of Simone Magill.

The 25-year-old has certainly earned the right given she is one of Northern Ireland's most consistent performers and has already racked up 61 caps despite her age.

In McArdle's previous role with the Scottish FA he focused a lot on youth development and while he did give Cora Chambers her debut, trusted McFarland with only her second start on Saturday and picked Halliday in both games, he has seemed to favour NI's more experienced players to get results in this window.

Aimee Kerr saw little game time across both games, Abi Sweetlove was an unused substitute for the double-header while McArdle thought Mia Moore would be better served having a final camp with the Under-19 side before she was ruled out through injury.

It suggests that the implementation of NI's next generation of talented teenagers will be a slow one with results the main focus at the minute, but McArdle's use and trust in Halliday shows he will reward talented young players when the time is right.

Still areas to improve

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Northern Ireland conceded two poor goals against Malta in their victory

While McArdle will be satisfied with what he has managed to extract from his players in a short space of time, he will know there are still areas of improvement.

The caveat of NI's two impressive performances is that they came against a Malta side ranked 39 places below them in the world rankings.

Tougher tests are round the corner in June with a must-win game away to Turkey and a home fixture against the top seeds Switzerland.

McArdle will want his side to tighten up defensively for those games given they handed Malta multiple opportunities home and away, which a better side may have punished more.

Jackie Burns made one big save in the second half of the home game - denying Haley Bugeja's goal bound effort by tipping it onto the crossbar.

She thwarted Bugeja again on Saturday while NI gave away two poor goals with poor defending from the corner in which Maria Farrugia netted, and a defensive mix-up allowing Leah Ayres to net a consolation.

McArdle will know they can ill-afford similar slip-ups in June, but, given the work he has done already to fix a misfiring attack, he will be confident he can shore up a defence and help NI build on the solid foundations laid in his first two games.