Harder’s header secures the win for Denmark in Milton Keynes

Danish talisman Pernille Harder headed in the only goal of the game at Stadium MK as Denmark beat Finland 1-0 in the UEFA Women's Euros on Tuesday night.

In a game of few chances at either end, Harder headed in from clsoe range with 19 minutes to go to secure the Danes' first points of the tournament, while the Finns are still looking to open their account.

Both sides suffered heavy defeats in their Group B opening games, shipping four goals apiece, but it was Denmark who looked the more likely of getting on the board in the early stages.

In front of a vocal 11,615 crowd, Danish striker Nadia Nadim twice came close in the opening 10 minutes, first testing keeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela from the edge of the box before then having the Finnish skipper racing across her line to claw away a close-range effort.

Finland though held their own and came into the game themselves but struggled to mustre an effort on target to test Lene Christensen. In fact it was the final ball which let both sides down as the game flowed from end-to-end with little in the way of clear cut opportunities.

The best chance for the Finns came six minutes before the interval when some patient build-up from Essi Sainio saw her pick out over-lapping full-back Emma Koivisto just inside the Danish area, but her effort dribbled just wide of the upright.

The second half continued the same pattern, with Denmark the team very much in the ascendency, clearly told to chance their arm more often at the interval.

Despite giving Korpela more to do in the second period, the Danes were met with a stern Finnish defence who looked eager to keep a clean sheet.

But that defence was finally breached with 19 minutes to go. A deep cross to the far post was met by Karen Holmgaard but it cannoned off the bar. With Korpela committed, Pernille Harder was left with the simple task of heading in from a yard out to send her side into the lead.

And they looked to be cruising to victory, but needed a sensational stop from Christensen deep into stoppge time to deny Finland an equaliser from a rocket of a strike from Jenny-Julia Danielsson.