Kosovo vs Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland suffered a second defeat in three Nations League games as their wait for a first win in the competition stretches to 13 games; Portugal and ...

Martin Odegaard hit the bar with the resulting free-kick but there was to be no way past an impressive Jan Oblak. We can look at the defence but we had three young defenders in the back four. "Northern Irish football is in a transition period. [Kosovo are] a settled side for the last three or four years with good players playing at a really high level and it was a good test for us. Northern Ireland hadn't scored in their last three outings but Shayne Lavery got them back into the match on the stroke of half-time with a brave close-range header. We've gone and matched them, created double-figures chances and that bodes well for the future.

Northern Ireland fell to a 3-2 defeat in their latest UEFA Nations League game.

"You then want more of the same second half and we've lost goals a little basically. I thought we started the game really well but then conceded the penalty and found ourselves behind and then 2-0 down. They were in Cyprus the other day and they travelled in the numbers again. This is a building plan and there is a bigger picture. "I said to the players that there are ways to lose a game of football. "We are at home on Sunday and hopefully we can pick up a win. "Take Davo, Jonny and Kyle out, you don't see many caps in that team. And Northern Ireland are back in it in the 45th minute! The manager told us to go out and make the fans proud. "We are disappointed after losing the game. That bodes well for the future. We are on that sort of run at the minute where every mistake gets punished.