Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S BETTER TO LOOK UP THAN DOWN
ASSISTANT boss Jimmy Nicholl has urged Northern Ireland to capitalise on the momentum from their win over Estonia when they face Belarus tomorrow.
He knows the confidence six points would bring and says they could change the entire outlook for the squad.
“It’s great seeing yourself top of the group rather than bottom,” he said. “They proved it in the last Euro qualifying campaign and it’s the same in this one.
“The players will be sitting there thinking, ‘We know how we felt last time’. It’s a chance to accumulate as many points as you wish if you go about your job properly, before we meet the obvious in Germany and Holland.”
Thursday’s game against an Estonia side ranked 60 places lower was the easiest on paper but victory was not always assured as the hosts huffed and puffed through the first half.
Boss Michael O’neill said he had done nothing to change his tactics from the same possession-based approach they used during the unsuccessful Nations League campaign yet Nicholl thought minor tweaks made the difference.
“We couldn’t get Steven Davis on the ball, we couldn’t get Paddy Mcnair on the ball, George Saville likes to be on the ball but we never managed it,” he said.
“That affects the wide men but it just changed in the second half. Craig Cathcart and Jonny Evans were stepping into the game and it was them knocking the ball wide. The game just changed dramatically.”
Gareth Mcauley has returned to training after missing Estonia with a hamstring problem but both Corry Evans (hamstring) and Gavin Whyte (thigh) remain sidelined.