Conor Bradley believes Northern Ireland can take a huge injection of confidence after Tuesday’s 5-0 rout of Bulgaria sent them top of their Nations League group.
Northern Ireland had failed to score in their previous two games, a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Bulgaria in Plovdiv last month before Saturday’s frustrating goalless draw against Belarus in Hungary, but they made up for it with a clinical display at Windsor Park.
Isaac Price scored a superb hat-trick, Brodie Spencer’s shot forced an own goal from goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov and Josh Magennis rounded off the rout, putting Northern Ireland in the driving seat for the final League C Group Three fixtures against Belarus and Luxembourg next month.
“I think we’ll take a lot of confidence from it because it’s been a tough few games for us, not scoring enough goals, we should be winning games we weren’t,” said the 21-year-old Bradley, who took the captain’s armband for a second consecutive game.
“It has been tough. That’s part of the learning experience for international football.
“It’s great seeing how many goals we scored, but we didn’t get a win in Bulgaria, we didn’t get a win against Belarus. I think that’s all part of the learning process.
“We know we’re a young team. There is potential there and we’ve just got to fulfil that potential and keep on putting in performances like we did here.”
Winning the group would cap an extremely encouraging year for Northern Ireland, who started it by drawing in Romania and then beating Scotland, two results away to sides who were heading to Euro 2024.
“I think we’ve progressed quite a bit since then,” added Liverpool’s Bradley, who got the only goal in Glasgow in March.
“It was obviously a great victory in Scotland, but I think we maybe only had 20 per cent of the ball and that’s not how [manager] Michael [O’Neill] wants us to play.
“Obviously, in that game it was a bit different there. They’re a top side, we had to sacrifice the ball, but think it’s now about controlling games with the ball and without the ball.
“I just think we’re progressing in every game we play together and obviously the connections are gelling and it’s just going really well.”
Price was nailed on for the man-of-the-match honours after hitting Northern Ireland’s first hat-trick since David Healy’s against Liechtenstein in 2007, but there were standout performances throughout.
Spencer, Dion Charles and Ali McCann all came into the starting XI and seized their chance with excellent displays, while the benefits of regular first-team football are really showing in Shea Charles, superb in midfield.
“That’s what you want and now we just need the boys to try and keep doing it consistently because I see in training every day how good they are, Isaac especially, scoring goals like that in training,” Bradley added.
“Shea is an unbelievable footballer so we’re lucky to have him. Now it’s just about doing it consistently.”
After taking the captain’s armband for the first time behind closed doors in Hungary on Saturday, Bradley relished the opportunity to do so again in front of family and friends at Windsor Park.
With O’Neill looking for a leader to emerge ahead of next year’s World Cup qualifiers, Bradley said he had enjoyed every minute of the experience.
“It’s probably been one of the biggest honours of my life to captain my country,” he said. “I’ve loved it and obviously I’ll leave it down to Michael to see who he sees fit to be the captain long term.
“It’s been one of the biggest honours of my life and I’m just so proud for my family.”
