O’Neill salutes N Ireland’s fighting qualities
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill praised his side’s battling qualities following last night’s impressive World Cup qualifying win over Norway.
First-half goals from Jamie Ward and Conor Washington earned O’Neill’s men a 2-0 win at Windsor Park. The result leaves Northern Ireland second in Group C, two points above Czech Republic and five behind leaders Germany.
“It was a fantastic performance, I couldn’t have asked any more,” O’Neill enthused. “It was a very competitive game.
“Norway played very direct and we had to deal with that. We competed fantastically and we played some very good football as well. To a man, they were fantastic.”
Northern Ireland have not qualified for a World Cup since 1986, but O’Neill believes his side are wellplaced to reach next summer’s tournament in Russia.
“It’s a great result for us, a great position we’re in now,” he added.
“There’s still a lot of football to played but when you get to this point, we’ve had five games, four clean sheets.
“The only team to score against us was the world champions and we’ve scored 10 at home, so there’s a lot of positives in this campaign.
“We just want to maintain the form that we’re in and make sure when the Germans come here and the Czech Republic come here that we’ve a couple of special nights to look forward to.”
Norway, now under the guidance of Lars Lagerback, who had led Iceland to the Euro 2016 quarter-finals, had their hopes scuppered inside two minutes.
Chris Brunt, playing in midfield as O’Neill restored his three centre-back system with the fit-again Craig Cathcart included, fed Ward and, when his attempt to twist right failed to materialise, the Nottingham Forest forward went left instead in the box and dispatched a low drive into the corner.
It was the perfect start for a home side whose only trouble in those early exchanges surrounded a back injury to Gareth McAuley picked up in an early challenge with Alexander Soderlund.
The 37-year-old was still moving gingerly when Soderlund’s hooked volley crashed against the crossbar to serve as a warning.
It looked like McAuley would not be able to continue but the West Brom defender, who has played every Premier League minute for West Brom this term, battled on and may have felt his pain alleviated somewhat with a second Northern Irish goal.
The assist came from the brilliant Steven Davis, though Norway’s disjointed backline certainly made it easier, as the Southampton midfielder fed Washington to apply the finish for his third international goal.
A third goal never came, with Washington’s deflected effort going wide and Ward firing into a defender’s legs when Brunt seemed better placed, but the job was done inside 32 minutes.