Jonny Evans targets history as Northern Ireland aim for fourth successive EURO 2020 qualifying win by beating Belarus

Northern Ireland head to Borisov seeking a fourth straight win to start a qualifying campaign - something they have never achieved before but also something which appears to be the minimum requirement to keep their hopes alive.

Saturday’s come-from-behind win over Estonia in Tallinn gave Northern Ireland nine points from nine so far but with tougher games to come against Holland and Germany, anything less than 12 from 12 will be a damaging setback.

“That was the target and we’re on track,” Evans said in the aftermath of victory thanks to goals by Conor Washington and Josh Magennis. “We talked before about it being almost like a mini group and could we get maximum points from these four games.

“We know how tough the remaining four games against two top sides will be, so we want to put ourselves in a good position.

“Germany and the Netherlands still have games to play and catch up on, so it’s important to get that head start.

“Plenty of times in the past we wouldn’t have found a way back into that game, but we have a way of playing now and a structure. We know we’ve got to keep playing our game.

“Yes, we can mix it up a bit as well and go more direct if we have to - that’s always been a strength of ours in the past. It’s great to have different options.”

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