Ruairi McConville says Northern Ireland can take the positives out of their goalless draw against Hungary – but knows there’s room for improvement for the last two games of this international window.

The Green and White Army made it four points out of a possible six as neither side could be breached at Windsor Park.

Northern Ireland were the better team in the opening 45 minutes but couldn’t find a way to goal despite the best efforts of Isaac Price and Patrick Kelly, but Hungary were dangerous after the restart and Pierce Charles made a vital late save to ensure Michael O’Neill’s men ended the contest with a share of the spoils.

McConville was drafted into the back three in the only change from the opening group success against Georgia due to Dan Ballard’s injury.

placeholder image — Ruairi McConville (left) reflected on Northern Ireland's goalless draw against Hungary

When asked to sum-up his thoughts on the game, he said: “There's a mixture of emotions obviously...frustrating not to win the game but so much to take.

"There's another clean sheet, two out of two in the campaign and I think the gaffer said it's eight in the last ten at home here, so a lot of positives to take on that front and a lot to obviously work on going forward into the next game.

"We take a lot of pride in set pieces and we'll have to have to work on them.

"We have a little bit more time in between the next game here so it's just about going back to work on things.

"Obviously it's a shame to lose Dan, especially the way we did but you have to just be ready for when the opportunity comes and thankfully I was able to step in tonight.

"Every time I get the opportunity to play I just got to try and show the manager that I'm capable to play and it's obviously such an honour to play here and play for your country so I'll keep going to the last minute and try and do my best.”

The 21-year-old, who plays his club football with Norwich City, knows Friday night’s game against Ukraine is set to be another stern test for Northern Ireland.

“I think they're top of the group as well on four points and we've watched bits of them obviously after playing Hungary,” he added.

“But I think at this level of international football there's no real easy game ,so it'll be a tough team to play against so we've just got to take these next few days to prep and work on things and be ready for when the game comes.

"I think we obviously want to win every game and so does the fans, so does the coaching staff, everyone so it's frustrating but I keep saying there's so much to take from the game.

"Keeping those clean sheets obviously puts us in a great position to go on and win games so we just have to keep working on things and try and create as many opportunities as we can to obviously get those wins.”