Daniel Ballard has revealed that the Northern Ireland players were always confident they would defeat Belarus and insists the plan is to maintain that winning feeling in Luxembourg.
Michael O’Neill’s side need a point on Monday night to be assured of topping their Nations League group but there is no way Northern Ireland will play for a draw with Sunderland star Ballard determined to land all three.
Due to injury the 25-year-old missed last month’s blistering 5-0 home win over Bulgaria and the scoreless draw against Belarus a few days earlier. Returning to the starting line-up on Friday he showed his importance to the side at both ends of the pitch, netting the crucial opening goal early in the second half in the 2-0 triumph over Belarus in Belfast before a Dion Charles penalty sealed the deal.
It was the centre-back’s fifth in international football, nodding home from close range after a Shea Charles corner evaded visiting defenders.
“It was probably one of my easier ones. I didn’t really see the ball until late and it was just a natural reaction. It was really nice to score in front of the Kop,” said Ballard.
“I feel like I’ve got a natural sort of aggression to attack the ball and that’s something that can be really useful, especially in games like this where it’s hard to break teams down.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game. They were really compact and they’re a big physical team, so we knew it wasn’t going to be like the Bulgaria game.
“At half-time we just said the fans will stick with us and if we keep doing the right things we can add a little bit more quality, and we were lucky enough to get the two goals.
“It was obviously disappointing missing the 5-0 win over Bulgaria. It looked amazing for everyone involved but the rest of the players were there and they carried that form on to this game and I think it was a good performance.”
As for the final match of the campaign against Luxembourg, Ballard stated: “It’s important we get used to that winning feeling. We’ve not experienced that as a group.
“This is a new group so it’s great for confidence and who knows, we might get a play-off spot potentially, so it’s important to win these games in front of us.
“It’s nice having confidence going into games. We believed we would win the game against Belarus. Initially when I first came into the team we’d lost a lot of confidence and it felt like we were going in the wrong direction, but I think that’s flipped now and it’s still a really young team, a lot of learning for everyone to do but it’s nice just to enjoy these moments in isolation and it’s always nice to win at Windsor.”
Ballard, Sunderland team-mate Trai Hume and Ciaron Brown started in defence on Friday but with the Oxford United player suspended for Luxembourg, O’Neill will have to make a change in the three man backline possibly offering an opportunity to Brighton teenager Ruairi McConville who made his debut as a late substitute versus Belarus.
“You saw Ruairi come on. He’s got a big frame, he looks really calm and compact,” said Ballard.
“ I think he’s going to be a great player for Northern Ireland in the future and he looks ready to start a game, whether it’s him or whoever the gaffer will pick, we’ve got good people to fill in and do a job.”