MCNAIR KEEN TO REMAIN A BARA BOY

GENEVA is famous for watchmaking and this costly defeat means time is almost up for Northern Ireland’s World Cup bid.

But the players insist it should not mean the end for boss Ian Baraclough, whose contract expires after next month’s final two qualifiers, against Lithuania and Italy.

Paddy McNair, who skippered Northern Ireland against Switzerland on his 50th cap, is adamant Baraclough should carry on because he has made progress.

Baraclough is blooding a new generation. Dan Ballard, Conor Bradley and Shayne Lavery all offer hope and, prior to this controversial defeat to the Swiss, his men had only lost one of their previous six games.

Succeeding Michael O’Neill was never going to be easy and Middlesbrough midfielder McNair said: “I’ve really enjoyed working under Ian the last couple of years, and even before he came in as a coach from the Under-21s.

“He knows a lot of the younger lads and he’s brought a lot of them up to the senior squad and they have gelled really well.

“The results have been positive the last six months or so, so yeah, it would be great if he stayed on.”

In the Stade de Geneve, referee Slavko Vincic showed Jamal Lewis a second yellow card for time wasting after just 37 minutes with the game goalless.

It was harsh in the extreme and Vincic appeared to forget he had already booked the defender for holding Breel Embolo’s shirt.

The Irish had been competitive until that moment and Conor Washington had missed a fine chance. But with 10 men, it was always going to be hard.

The Swiss broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time through Steven Zuber and Christian Fassnacht added a late second.

His side are six points behind the second-placed Swiss, with three games left, but Baraclough (top) said: “We’ve got to make sure we’re in the shake-up, if Switzerland make a mistake.”