Steven Davis says that he has taken inspiration from Northern Ireland’s past captains to help guide his nation to the “huge” achievement of Euro 2016 qualification.
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Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill was happy with his side’s performance after they beat Latvia 1-0 at a sold-out Windsor Park to maintain their momentum ahead of Euro 2016.
“We have had a great year with a few great results, and a great campaign”.
Only injury could prevent the skipper from lining up in France next summer, but with a few squad regulars set to miss out on the final 23-man party, Davis sees a competitive edge in the camp.
“I thought he did extremely well given the circumstances”.
“I thought we looked really strong across the back three and the pleasing aspect was that the two wing-backs knew their roles”. That’s eight games unbeaten now and a clean sheet was good as well. The players have to recognise what has got them here to this point, and the work rate and energy they have put in, and the belief and confidence they have as a team.
Northern Ireland had gone 23 friendly fixtures without victory since then – including 11 under manager O’Neill – but last night that barren spell finally ended in south Belfast.
On 31 minutes Stuart Dallas got in down the left and his cut-back into the box fell to Davis whose left-foot effort was well saved by Vanins.
Northern Ireland got the breakthrough in the 55th minute courtesy of Davis’ finish.
Latvian keeper Andris Vanins initially managed to save the Southampton midfielder’s 55th-minute header.
A plethora of substitutions punctuated the second half as the game drew to a disjointed close.
Latvia nearly kept the friendly curse going in the 87th minute, but Artjoms Rudnevs hooked his shot wide of the target from 12 yards.
“I’m looking for the team to enjoy the game at the national stadium, hopefully it will be a sell-out and fans can maybe congratulate the players a little bit”, he told the Irish Football Association website.
O’Neill could tinker with his system but is unlikely to make too many personnel changes over the coming months, adding: “We don’t have 50 players waiting to come in so it’s not a case of there being huge options”.
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Lafferty was substituted shortly after the break after hurting his ribs but he had the best chance of the first half when he shot wide with Ward in a good position.
