securing

Northern Ireland boss Tanya Oxtoby believes their 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Nations League in Zenica shows the “growth” of her side.

Captain Simone Magill’s composed finish was cancelled out by Sofija Krajsumovic’s equaliser for Bosnia, but NI saw out the draw which secured second place in the group and a promotion play-off.

That is an improvement on their third-place finish in the last edition of the Nations League, and despite the nervy nature of the draw, Oxtoby praised the application of her players to grind out a result.

“It’s always a difficult place to come with the travel, I thought we should have scored a few more in the first half and we conceded a sloppy one, but to show the character to see the game out that’s all that matters at this point,” she said.

“In international football there are no easy games, I said all along every game was going to be competitive in this group and you have to show the character and resilience.

“You have to win when it’s not pretty and get results when it’s not pretty and we’ve certainly done that when there have been times previously when we haven’t, so for me, that is growth.”

TYSON FURY’S popular Netflix reality show could be the unlikely key to securing a fight with Anthony Joshua.

The father-of-seven and childhood sweetheart wife Paris starred in a nine-part fly-on-the-wall series called At Home with the Furys.

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It culminated in Fury’s December 2022 victory over Derek Chisora – but much has happened since then.

Fury faced ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou in October 2023 – surviving a knockdown to win a controversial split-decision.

He then twice lost to Oleksandr Usyk on points before announcing his retirement in January, a month after defeat in the rematch.

Fury was spotted filming with Netflix in March, meaning the next series could document his two losses to Usyk and subsequent retirement.

The Gypsy King also looks set to walk away from a huge Battle of Britain bout against Joshua.

But, Fury has started to tease a comeback with glimpses of his return to training while the success of his series could factor into his decision to fight again.

Netflix bosses will be keen to centre a series around Fury’s preparation for what would be the nation’s biggest-ever fight.

And with the streaming service now in the boxing business – they could even make a play to broadcast the mega-bout.

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YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul had 100 MILLION watch his fight in November with Mike Tyson – who controversially made a return aged 58.

The stream crashed amid the demand and Netflix also home to Katie Taylor’s July 11 trilogy against Amanda Serrano.

Joshua, 35, and Fury, 36, are both exclusive to DAZN per the deals their promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren signed.

But DAZN gave permission for Irish star Taylor, 38, to rematch and beat Serrano, 36, on Paul’s undercard.

It would take quite some convincing for DAZN to allow a similar pass for AJ and Fury but the streaming giants are making an aggressive push in live sports.

They have exclusive UK rights to the WWE and Monday Night Raw in America while also pushing to take over UFC coverage from ESPN.

In March, Chris Mannix reported that Netflix were “aggressively” targeting the rights for Joshua vs Fury.

Another was Canelo Alvarez’s September undisputed fight against unbeaten American Terence Crawford.

Netflix were on board for the super-fight, planned for the Las Vegas Raiders’ 65,000-seat, £1.5BILLION stadium with UFC boss Dana Whiyte to promote.

But Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh has since revealed the fight is set for September 13 – the date of UFC 320.

And Alalshikh said it will be on pay-per-view with Riyadh Season – who have an exclusive deal with DAZN.

It suggests White and Netflix are now out of the fight.

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