Michael O’Neill called Isaac Price a “brilliant young player” after his fine strike helped Northern Ireland to a deserved 1-1 draw against Switzerland.
Price, 21, made it five goals in his last four international appearances and seven in total when he curled in a fine strike to put Northern Ireland ahead in the 16th minute.
After Vincent Sierro too easily headed Switzerland level from a corner, West Brom’s January signing had a chance to restore the hosts’ lead at the start of the second half but, though he missed that, it was another strong performance from a player who has really begun to blossom in this side.
“He’s a brilliant young player,” O’Neill said. “When you look at the way football is now, there’s a real requirement to run, it’s a huge part of the game and bigger than it’s ever been – are you a player that’s able to press and able to recover quickly for your team?
“But if you’ve got the ability to play as well, which he does have – he’s scored seven international goals now, I just think he looks really, really comfortable playing international football.
“He’s a brilliant boy as well, a great kid, and everyone is delighted for him in the dressing room.”
The result and performance offer another positive step as Northern Ireland build towards the World Cup qualifying campaign that starts in September, when they will face Slovakia, Luxembourg and either Germany or Italy.
Playing here against a side ranked 20th in the world this young side – by the final whistle the average age of the 11 players on the pitch for Northern Ireland was just 22 – did not look remotely phased.
O’Neill had wanted to challenge his players against a nation who were among the top seeds in the qualifying draw and it was a test they largely passed, certainly to the eye.
The statistics said Switzerland had 80 per cent of possession, but it was Northern Ireland who had more shots at goal.
“It was what we wanted from the game,” O’Neill said. “We had to be good without the ball, which I thought we were. Pierce (Charles) made one save in the game of note. We scored a good goal and we were disappointed with the goal that we lost.
“Other than that I thought we probably had the best chance in the game. If you look at the age of our team, playing against a strong team – yes, I know they are missing some important players, but likewise so are we – but at the end our front six were 21 and under.
“There is a lot to take from it. It was a positive performance overall. We could have won, equally we could have lost it but we weren’t overawed by the opposition. Their front three are a handful and I thought we dealt with them well.”
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