Northern Ireland v Austria

“It’s hard going on a Saturday watching your team and you might not even be on the bench, you don’t want that to happen. You don’t want to be in the stand on a Saturday, you want to be out there helping your team- mates. “It’s great that the manager has given me an opportunity and I’m really looking forward to carrying on for the rest of the season.” Since getting back to his best at the London club Ferguson has also given O’Neill more difficult decisions to make. He started the Nations League game in Austria last month and his versatility makes him a great option in the new-look system. The baby-faced former Rangers loanee has been around the senior international set-up for several years, earning 37 caps and scoring once against Finland in 2012 and he is hoping his return to form at club level will create even more opportunities with his country, starting with today’s Nations League finale against Austria. He added: “I play a couple of positions in the team and the lads that play there as well are great competition, so it’s tough. “I always train hard so that when I come away I am ready for that opportunity if needed. “The last couple of Nations League games were disappointing. We had chances as well but both games were just those nights, things weren’t falling for us. We’ll look back on both games and try to put things right. “There is frustration at the minute because we know we could be a lot better off than what we are (in the group). We just have to try to rectify that.” Joining up with the international squad also means a reunion with midfielder George Saville, who left Millwall for Middlesbrough in the summer transfer window. And Ferguson is a big fan. “He’s a massive loss to us at Millwall. You saw how many goals he got for us last season,” he said. “‘Sav with Northern Ireland, we’ve seen his performances, he’s a top player, and hopefully he can keep that going.”

SHANE FERGUSON

Position Midfielder Date Of Birth 12.07.1991 Place Of Birth Derry / Londonderry

MIDFIELDER

Height 178cm Weight 66kg

CLUB RECORD

11

SQUAD NO

CLUBS Newcastle United

23 29

Birmingham City (loan)

Rangers (loan)

2

Millwall

108

Caps 37 Goals 1 INTERNATIONAL RECORD 11 Debut 06.06.2009 v Italy (A) Lost 0-3 SQUAD NO

Northern Ireland U17 Northern Ireland U19 Northern Ireland U21 Northern Ireland B

8

16 11

1

21

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