EURO 2016: Shane Ferguson hoping for big end to season

Northern Ireland's Shane Ferguson gets away from Slovenia's Skubic Nejc. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

The former Maiden City Soccer man started in their 1-0 win over Slovenia on Monday evening and he’s hoping to end the season on a high in France this June.

Ferguson is keeping his fingers crossed that Millwall, who currently sit in the League One play-off positions, can gain promotion back to the Championship and that would be the perfect send off prior to the European Championships.

“It’s obviously tight up there and hopefully we can keep it going and get a good few more results from now until the end of the season,” he said.

“We could be in the mix and we were on a good unbeaten run recently before losing, but we bounced back well on Monday night beating Burton and hopefully we can get another few more results.

“It’s going to be close as there’s a few teams behind us so we need to get on a run again.”

The former Newcastle United man feels his move to The Den is already paying off.

“One of the main reasons why I joined Millwall was to get game time, because obviously at Newcastle I wasn’t getting that, so it was a good decision I made, especially with the European Championships coming up in the summer, you have to have that in the back of your mind.”

The Tamnaherin man was happy that he got more game time at Windsor Park and that the boys could eclipse a record that Billy Bingham’s 1980s squad set.

“I was speaking to Michael (O’Neill) and he told me that I was going to be involved against Slovenia and I was really delighted to get the start and it was a great result for us,” he added.

“We didn’t really speak about before the game but when we came in Michael was delighted for us and obviously it’s a massive thing for us, because we have come a long way since Michael first took over.”

Ferguson like everyone who watched Monday night’s game was impressed by match winner Conor Washington’s display.

“Conor did well and we knew in training what he was all about; how quick and strong he is, he worked so hard for the team and he’s going to be a big player for us in the future.”