Worthington: Positive heading in to qualifiers

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Nigel Worthington was pleased by the performance of his Northern Ireland side in their draw with Scotland.

The former Norwich boss saw his charges grind out a 0-0 stalemate at Hampden Park, with David Healy even able to miss a second half penalty.

With the 2010 World Cup qualifiers due to get underway next month, Worthington believes he can take plenty of positives from the friendly encounter.

He said: "There were a lot of very good performances and it shows the group is getting stronger.

"The game was a great exercise and a blueprint of what we are looking for away from home.

"I thought we passed the ball well. We only had limited chances but that is usually the case when you are on your travels."

Respect

Northern Ireland picked up just five points on their travels during their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, and must travel to Liechtenstein in their first game on the road to South Africa.

However, Worthington is confident that performances will improve this time around, starting in Bratislava on 6th September.

"We have got to give them respect, but we must go into their backyard like we did in Scotland's and perform like we did," he said.

"If we do that we can get a good result. There is a lot of hard work to be done. We got turned over in Latvia and Iceland by these supposedly smaller nations."

Clean sheet

Worthington's men also face a home game with the Czech Republic next month, before making a tricky trip to Slovenia.

"If we get four to six points away from home in the next qualifiers I will be very happy - as long as we keep our home form," he said.

"That is my first clean sheet as Northern Ireland manager and if you can get clean sheets you can build on that."