FOOTBALL: Worthy focuses on positives
NIGEL Worthington insisted there were positives to be taken from his side's 3-0 defeat to Italy.
The Northern Ireland boss fielded a youthful team in Pisa's Arena Garibaldi, but he is convinced his players will have emerged from the experience with their heads held high and with a lot of pride, In spite of the defeat.
"You are always disappointed when you get beat," he said.
"But when you analyse the group of players that we had out, it was good for me to have a look at them, and when you look at the clubs that their players are coming from; looking at everything realistically, you come away with a lot of pluses.
"There was a lot of good stuff."
Northern Ireland goalkeepers Jonathan Tuffey and Alan Mannus both made some important saves to prevent a dominant Italy from running away with the match, and restricting the world champions to just three goals can be regarded as an achievement, according to Worthington.
"It's a great experience and I think overall the best way to sum it up is to say that nobody got embarrassed by the situation," he said.
"The players have enjoyed it. We have gained a lot from it, and I have certainly gained a lot from it.
"I thought (Colin) Coates and (Chris) Casement were exceptional at the back, Damien Johnson was outstanding and then there were a lot of solid performances.
"Young Corry Evans did extremely well, Andy Little worked very hard. There were a lot of pluses.
"You could name anybody here."
The three goals conceded will also give Worthington something to work on in the build-up to the more important World Cup qualifiers coming up in August and September.
He said: "The first one was from a pass in our half and he scored, the second one they were 70 yards from our goal and we gave the ball away and for the third one, the centre-half was not close enough in the box and good top-class players do that to you.
"It was a great experience."
The biggest disappointment on the night probably did not come from Pisa at all.
Slovakia's 7-0 win over San Marino in Bratislava saw Northern Ireland lose their position at the top of World Cup qualifying Group Three, but Worthington remained philosophical about that result.
"That's out of our hands," he admitted. "That is them doing their job. We have our game in August and then we've got the double-header in September.
"Whenever that comes around, we have got to look at doing our own job exactly the same."
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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