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Michael O'Neill: Let me stay on and make Northern Ireland a force again

Image: Michael O'Neill: Yet to win a game as Northern Ireland manager

Michael O'Neill wants the chance to make Northern Ireland a competitive force in European football again.

Lessons

Russia won the reverse fixture 2-0 in September, and Irish captain Steven Davis believes lessons must be learned from that game. He said: "When we played in Russia we didn't see a great deal of the ball and that might be the same again, so when we do get chances we know we are going to have to be clinical." The template, as far as Davis is concerned, should be October's 1-1 draw in Portugal - comfortably the most eye-catching result of the O'Neill era. He said: "Of course, the going to be very difficult but we will use our performance in Portugal as the benchmark. "Giving the fans a night like that game in Portugal was a massive lift but we won't underestimate just how tough it is going to be against Russia. "Like I have said, I think the performances have been good without getting a little bit of fortune along the way. What is important for us is to use everything we have to our advantage."

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