Michael O'Neill hails Northern Ireland spirit after clinching a top-two spot
Monday 4 September 2017 23:05, UK
Michael O'Neill hailed Northern Ireland's spirit after a 2-0 win against the Czech Republic sealed a top-two spot in their World Cup qualifying group.
The hosts knew they needed just a point to clinch at least a second-place finish in Group C along with Germany, and put them in a strong position to make it through to the play-off round.
But they put in a solid performance to take all three points, with manager O'Neill praising his side for coming through a tricky game where they saw just 28 per cent of the possession.
"It was a difficult game for us because the players envisaged having a bit more of the ball than we had but the spirit to defend as we did, to work as hard as we did without the ball but then to be able to use it in the right opportunities when we had it was fantastic," he told Sky Sports after the game.
"It was almost like an away performance, to be honest. I have to give credit to the Czech Republic, they made it like that, they passed the ball extremely well but we limited them to very few opportunities.
"As I said to the players in there, if you've got that spirit, commitment and drive then collectively in the team, you've got a chance.
"This team just finds something in reserve when we need it and we found it again tonight. It was a difficult game tactically and trying to come to terms with not having possession.
"But it's about scoring goals and winning the game and we know how to do that. It takes a team to be patient when they don't have the ball and we have that in our play as well.
"We sit here in a great position now, guaranteed second spot in the group with seven clean sheets out of eight. It's a phenomenal record."
Both Northern Ireland goals came from set-pieces, with Chris Brunt's corner starting off the play for Jonny Evans' opening header before the West Brom midfielder curled home a superb free kick to seal the three points.
O'Neill said: "It was a fabulous free kick. We do a lot of work on set pieces, I just said to the players that it pays off, but if I'm 100 per cent honest, the two goals from set-pieces were not things that we worked on. We had other things in our locker but they took it upon themselves," he added.
"Set-pieces are a big part of the game. If you defend them properly and capitalise on them, then you have a chance in any game and we certainly are testament to that.
"Jonny (Evans) has been fantastic in the two games and fantastic in this campaign. I don't think there is any coincidence we have the record we have defensively considering Jonny has played in every game.
"It's great for him to get the goal and brave but there was great performances all over. Aaron (Hughes) defies logic in terms of still being able to play at this level at his age and continue to deal with whatever is thrown at him.
"I think Conor McLaughlin was fantastic tonight because he got a really bad one [challenge] early on in the game and we had to switch him into a back three in the second half and he dealt with that.
"The back four were magnificent as well but right through the team, the performances were fabulous."
