Soccer

Northern Ireland boss Baraclough pleased to see team battle to end

Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough watches on against Austria.<br /> Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough watches on against Austria.
Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough watches on against Austria.
Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

OUTPLAYED, beaten, with only one effort on target – yet the fact that Northern Ireland still almost snatched a draw against Austria was reassuring for their manager.

Ian Baraclough was slightly surprised that his team didn't steal a point at the end, when Liam Boyce fired across the face of goal in the 92nd minute, saying: "Boycie will be disappointed he didn't hit the target – I was waiting to see the net bulge actually. The keeper was rooted and I don't know how far it was away…

"We've got players who will go to the death and that's always a pleasing aspect for a manager.

"You look at the players, they don't know when they're beaten, they won't accept defeat. The very fact that in the last few minutes we get a free kick and we're bright enough to put our hand on the ball and then go and play it quick tells you something."

Sensibly, 'Bara' didn't deny the downsides of the performance, particularly yet another sluggish start, even if the Austrians only capitalised on one of several great chances by scoring shortly before half-time.

"You talk about wanting to start games well, wanting to get after teams. We gave ourselves problems at the moment, having to come from 1 or 2-0 down, and we don't want to give ourselves those problems. We don't want to be showing that battling spirit to come back into games, we want to be taking games by the scruff of the neck and we didn't do that again.

"Maybe in the first 10 minutes we showed bright sparks and thought, 'Right, OK we're on top of it' - but once they started to get into their rhythm we started to go back and back and conceded territory."

Northern Ireland next must travel today to take on Norway tomorrow, who hammered them 5-1 in Belfast last month.

Yet while Baraclough is not writing off the Nations League as 'glorified friendlies' there is a bigger picture to consider on both the club and international scenes:

"I've got to be selfish, I've got to think what's best for Northern Ireland, and I do – but I also have to think about the balance. I don't want to send the players back fatigued, over-used, their club wants to play them as well. It's only a three-, four-week turnaround before the Slovakia game [Euro play-off final] and I have to make sure I do right by the players.

"Part of my responsibility with Northern Ireland means looking after a player to make sure that he goes back to his club in good health – and then keeping fingers crossed that the club looks after him as well."