Kenny Shiels has issued an apology after claiming his Northern Ireland women's side conceded quick-fire goals because they are "more emotional" than men.
The former Kilmarnock and Morton manager has come under fire after making the bizarre remark following his team's World Cup qualifying defeat to England on Tuesday night.
Pundits and fans have lined up to slam Shiels' view that there is an "emotional imbalance" in the women's game that leads to goals being shipped in clusters.
But following the reaction, the 65-year-old has moved to say sorry.
Shiels said in statement: "I wish to apologise for my comments made in the post-match press conference last night. I am sorry for the offence that they have caused.
"Last night was a special occasion for the women’s game in Northern Ireland and I am proud to manage a group of players who are role models for so many girls, and boys, across the country.
"I am an advocate for the women's game and passionate about developing opportunities for women and girls to flourish."
Shiels had claimed in his post-match press conference that there was a pattern in the women's game that pointed to a psychological.
He said on Tuesday night: "I thought they were struggling a wee bit at times to open us up until the psychology of going two up.
"In the women's game, you'll have noticed if you go through the patterns, when a team concedes a goal they concede a second one within a very short period of time.
"Right through the whole spectrum of the women's game, because girls and women are more emotional than men, so they take a goal going in not very well.
"So if you watch, if you go through the stats - which journalists love to do - go through stats and you'll see teams conceding goals in 18 and 21 minutes, and then in 64 and 68 minutes. They group them because that is an emotional goal.
"We conceded in 48, with three in seven minutes or three in nine on Friday [in 3-1 defeat to Austria]. We were conscious of that when we went 1-0 down, we killed the game and tried to just slow it right to give them time to get that emotional imbalance out of their head. And that's an issue that we have - not just Northern Ireland - but all the countries have that problem."
