Kenny Shiels relishing England test for his Northern Ireland players

Shiels’ side will use the game at St George’s Park as preparation for their two-legged Euro 2022 play-off in April against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

They won their final four group qualifiers and in their last match in December beat the Faroe Islands 5-1 to clinch a play-off place.

England have not played since March last year, with games against Germany and Norway cancelled due to coronavirus.

“We do know that we have girls who are nurses, work in B&Q and Lidl and all those things, so they’re not going to be conditioned the way English players are,” Shiels said. “That’s a major disadvantage, but we’re taking that hit and we’re going to try and show some courage to take on the might of England. That’s what we’re doing.

“I’m sure we will benefit from that and then we take it into the next game, which will be a real tough one also.”

Shiels, appointed in May 2019, lamented the fact that some of his players were unable to take time off work as the game was a friendly, but believes it is the perfect test for his players.

“If you play for Sion Swifts, or Linfield, or Glentoran, or Crusaders in the Irish League, which most of our players come from, they’re not used to playing against opposition of this magnitude,” said the former Kilmarnock manager.

“They’re going to play quicker than what we’re used to, they’re going to be stronger than what we’re used to, everything.

“All the assets it takes to be an athletic sports person, they have them, so why would that not be a really good experiment for us to visit that and try to contest against that?

“I think this is the ideal opponent. If we work hard and improve in how quick we can play and how accurate we can play, that’s the whole purpose of it and the logic of it.”

Shiels revealed goalkeeper Jackie Burns had been ruled out after sustaining an injury during training.

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