Isaac Price believes ‘no fear’ attitude can pay dividends for Northern Ireland

The immediate emotion after Saturday’s 0-0 Nations League draw against Belarus in Hungary was one of disappointment as Northern Ireland were unable to make any of a string of first-half chances count at the ZTE Arena, missing the chance to go top of their group in the process.

But though Belarus goalkeeper Fedor Lapoukhov would not be beaten, the opening 45 minutes in particular were hugely encouraging to Michael O’Neill as his young side created chance after chance, with 12 attempts on goal before the break, including an Eoin Toal header that came back off the post.

While Jamie Reid led the line, it was the youngsters behind him that caught the eye, with Price, 21, and Callum Marshall, 19, running at the defence while Conor Bradley, captain on the night at 21, delivered his now standard performance full of energy down the right to set up several chances.

“We felt like we’d done enough to come here and win the game and we couldn’t do that, but some of the play, especially in the first half, the chances we created were really good,” Price told the PA news agency. “We’ve just got to put in those little details to get the goals.

“I think it’s sort of a ‘no fear’ way of playing. We go out there and express ourselves but you’ve got to do it in the right way.

“You can’t just do whatever you feel like, you’ve got to play as a team but we showed we’ve got really good individuals in the team and it’s about making those individuals look good as a team. I think we’re doing that and if we carry on playing like this I can see us winning a lot more games.”

Strong starts have been a feature of Northern Ireland’s recent performances – their last seven goals have all come in the first half of games.

That is an obvious strength, but Price also recognised the need to make sure Northern Ireland can sustain pressure on their opponents for more than 45 minutes.

“I think we come out really fast, show a real intensity in the first few minutes and sometimes put teams on the back foot,” the Standard Liege forward said. “They panic a little bit, they get disjointed and then it’s up to us to expose that.

“But now it’s about showing if we don’t score in the first half, how do we break them down in the second half? How do we change our mindset from defending and attacking, breaking them down in different ways rather than just playing through the middle?”

Particularly in the circumstances of the game – played in a neutral venue behind closed doors due to the restrictions placed on Belarus by UEFA – a draw was still a solid result for Northern Ireland.

If they can beat Bulgaria at Windsor Park on Tuesday, promotion out of League C will still be within their grasp next month.

“I think everyone was really disappointed in the changing room as we felt we played pretty well and probably should have got the three points, so it’s more two dropped than one gained,” Price said.

“But we put in a good performance and we’ve got another home game on Tuesday so we’ve just got to go and beat Bulgaria.”