Teenage goalkeeper Pierce Charles has admitted he was taken aback by the ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Windsor Park on Tuesday night when Northern Ireland hammered Bulgaria 5-0 in the Nations League.
The result took Michael O’Neill’s side top of their group with Charles hoping to maintain his place in the side for next month’s fixtures against Belarus and Luxembourg.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Charles now has two senior caps and two clean sheets to his name.
While the 19-year-old was proud to make his senior international debut last weekend in the behind closed doors 0-0 draw versus Belarus in Hungary, he loved being part of the action in his very first match at Windsor as O’Neill’s young team romped to victory.
“When I was walking out for the start of the game the noise caught me by surprise,” explained Charles.
“It was like Wow! It was such an amazing atmosphere and the fans brought so much passion to the game.
“It was a dream night winning 5-0 at home in front of our fans. I’m sure they were all buzzing going home. That was what we came here to do.”
Charles, who came through Manchester City’s Academy, has impressed for Northern Ireland’s Under-19 and Under-21 sides and in front of a packed house in Belfast, he showed his class at the highest level with superb passing which started a host of Northern Ireland attacks.
On how he has found the camp, Charles said: “International football brings different challenges I would say to club football.
“There are probably harder challenges in some aspects and there is more passion involved as it’s for your country but I think I dealt with it quite well and so did the team getting a 5-0 win against Bulgaria.
“Before the game the manager (O’Neill) said that he trusted what we had worked on in training and evidently we went out there and did that work and he was very happy for us after the game.
“I think the result will be a big boost for us knowing what type of performance we can pull off going into the next window and I’m sure we can get results then as well. Everyone was buzzing after the match. The dressing room was all smiles with happy vibes.”
Alongside Charles in the starting line-up for the second game running was older brother Shea who is also at Sheffield Wednesday, on loan from Southampton. The midfielder was magnificent on Tuesday on what was a special night for the Charles clan.
“We had a lot of family watching. My mum was at the game and we also had aunties, uncles, cousins and family friends,” said the goalkeeper.
“They are all happy for us. It’s amazing that Shea and I are at the same club now and to play with each other at international level is a dream for us.”
Post match the Green and White Army were waxing lyrical about the teen’s talent with his feet. There was one sublime pass to captain Conor Bradley which led to Dion Charles scoring only for it to be ruled out due to VAR.
“Distribution is a big part of my game and I think it helps the team out,” said Charles.
“You work on that as much as you work on saves, especially in the modern game.
“For the pass to Conor (Bradley) I took a touch and saw the defender jumping so I knew the space was in behind and I played it in there and we scored from it. It was annoying that it was offside.”
Regular goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell is hoping to return to the squad next month after injury but given how Charles performed this month, O’Neill’s has a big call to make for the November games.
“Hopefully I can stay in the senior squad,” said Charles.
“When I was told I was going to play (against Belarus and Bulgaria), my target was to keep my position in the team. I will leave it up to the manager.
“I’m going to go back to my club to keep working hard and hopefully get a few games there.”