Davis battle cry: we must take the fight to Bulgaria
■ Bara to give players chance to shine against USA ahead of crunch Group C game
NORTHERN Ireland captain Steven Davis says they must throw everything at Bulgaria on Wednesday to keep their World Cup dream alive.
A 2-0 defeat to Italy wasn’t the perfect start Ian Baraclough and his men hoped for but a Windsor Park win next week would get their Group C campaign up and running.
Northern Ireland take on the USA in a friendly at Windsor Park tomorrow (5.05pm) and it will be an opportunity for players to push for a starting role next week.
Daniel Ballard, Shane Ferguson, Conor Mclaughlin, Niall Mcginn, Matthew Kennedy and Dion Charles, if he’s fit, will come into the manager’s thinking.
Davis, who equalled Peter Shilton’s British caps record of 125 matches, will be rested in a much-changed line-up after the tough test in Parma.
Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile netted first-half goals for the classy hosts and Rangers hero Davis admits his side must take out their frustration on Bulgaria.
Gavin Whyte, Michael Smith and Paddy Mcnair were unable to tuck away second-half chances and a ruthless touch must be found on Wednesday.
“We need to be more aggressive than we were in the first half against Italy,” said Davis.
“The important thing is we created opportunities and got some joy after pressing them but it’s a difficult place to come to.
“We have to be realistic. We have to win these games if we want to do something in the group and that will be our mentality going into the game.”
Former Northern Ireland winger Keith Gillespie said: “We need to be beating Bulgaria and Lithuania home and away and take points off Switzerland.
“If we lose against Bulgaria you can kiss goodbye already after two games.
“This next one is a definite must-win game.”