Isaac Price admitted the timing of Northern Ireland’s promotion to the Nations League was “bittersweet” after Northern Ireland threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 in from their final group match in Luxembourg, but he believes Monday’s experience will only help moving forward.
Price, 21, scored his sixth Northern Ireland goal to put Michael O’Neill’s side ahead in the 19th minute and they looked on their way when Conor Bradley added a second, early in the second half.
But they squandered chances to extend that lead and were made to pay as two goals in three minutes from Seid Korac and Gerson Rodrigues brought Luxembourg back to level terms with 15 minutes remaining.
It was job done in group terms as Northern Ireland finished two points ahead of Bulgaria in League C Group 3, but there was no party atmosphere considering of the result.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” Price said. “We came here to dominate the group and we did it to make everyone really happy.
“We had a good Nations League, we built a group, so I think overall the feeling is positive, but we need to look back and prevent these kinds of (results) from happening…
“We haven’t conceded many goals in this Nations League and it’s kind of a learning curve, when we’re 2-0 up, how to manage a game and not have this story of quick successive goals. But we have a young team and I think we will all learn from it.
Price, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s 5-0 defeat by Bulgaria, gave Northern Ireland the lead with an instinctive goal when played in by Shea Charles.
“There was no real thought,” said the Standard Liège striker. “Just try to reach the bottom corner and that’s what happened, yeah, it buzzes.”
Price and Northern Ireland will now look forward to next month’s World Cup qualifying draw – which takes place on December 13 – with confidence having made great progress since an otherwise qualifying campaign A disappointing run for Euro 2024 ended with a 2-0 win over Denmark 12 months ago. There is.
“I think we really had a great year,” Price said. “We’ve had a lot of different faces, a lot of different teams and we’ve adapted, but I think we have so many good young players.
“We have senior players who are leading the way for us and showing us what they have been through in the past and it always helps to have players who have been to the Euros before and experienced it like that. We can only learn from it and I think we have.
Price came off in second-half stoppage time in Luxembourg to make way for Justin Devenny to make his debut.
The 21-year-old made his first Premier League appearance for Crystal Palace just over a week ago against Fulham, quickly followed by a late call-up to O’Neill’s squad, and in recent days were a real whirlwind for the Scot. born midfielder.
“I’m very proud, it’s unbeatable,” Devenny told the PA news agency. “This week has been very, very good. There are great players on the team. I just need to learn every day, learn from the best and take away that experience.
Considering how quickly things have happened for Devenny over the past couple of weeks, he admitted he’s had a hard time taking it all in.
“I try as hard as I can,” he said. “I feel like it’s something I’ll look back on for the rest of my life.” After the Palace match, I didn’t really know how to react, how to handle it, but I just have to be proud of those moments.