CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Davis plays down talk of 100th Northern Ireland appearance to focus on World Cup play-offs

SELFLESS Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis insists personal fanfare will play second fiddle to World Cup focus next month.

Davis is set to win his 100th cap in the first leg of the play-offs for Russia, with the fixture to be played between November 9 and 11.

Northern Ireland will only know the identity of their opponents for the dramatic two-legged shootout when the draw is made in Zurich next Tuesday.

But whoever the opposition and whatever the venue, Davis insists reaching a century of caps will be reduced to sub plot as he bids to help his country reach a first World Cup in three decades.

The Southampton midfielder, who made his debut as a 20-year-old in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Canada in 2005, is proud of the achievement. But asked if it’s a dream scenario to make his 100th appearance in such a massive fixture, he replied: “It could be but to be honest that will be at the very back of my mind with what’s at stake.

“We’ve two massive games next month and we’ll be doing our utmost to progress. It’s a great opportunity and a real carrot for us to reach the World Cup.”

While Northern Ireland are destined to be one of the four unseeded teams alongside the Republic of Ireland in the October 17 draw, Davis is upbeat about the country’s prospects.

He added: “No matter who we draw we know it’s going to be tough but what an occasion to look forward to. We would have bitten your hand off for this at the start of the campaign.

“The main thing was to try and get a play-off in a tough group alongside Germany. We have managed to do that and we’ll be right up for it.

“Hopefully over the next few weeks everyone can play well for their clubs, come through unscathed and be raring to go. ”

While Davis was frustrated to end the group campaign with defeats to the Germans and Norway on Sunday night, he believes Northern Ireland will pick themselves up for the play-offs.

He also says it was a “bonus” that no suspensions were accumulated in Oslo. Six Northern Ireland players – Davis, Jonny Evans, Ollie Norwood, Josh Magennis, Corry Evans and Stuart Dallas – all carried yellow cards into the final pool game.

Davis said: “We wanted to go to Norway and get a result to try to get momentum going again. We wanted to end the group in style and it’s never nice when you lose a game.

“It hurts but the main thing is we don’t let it detract from what we have achieved in the group. It’s important we don’t let it affect us.

“On another night we might have taken something from the game but maybe we can learn from that as well.

“We know we have to be at our very best every time and right at it to get results.”