Lafferty ready for Luxembourg test

The Burnley man is likely to take over from the suspended Chris Brunt and slot into left-back, playing behind fellow Londonderry man Shane Ferguson.

Lafferty was a frustrated spectator as he watched from the Windsor Park stands Cristiano Ronaldo inspire Portugal to a 4-2 success, the Real Madrid star netted a hat-trick as the ten men fought back from being 2-1 down to see off the nine men.

Despite the defeat the 24-year-old feels the squad should take positives from the World Cup Group F qualifier and look to get back to winning ways this evening.

“Tuesday is a game we should win, especially with how we have been playing in the last few games,” stated Lafferty.

“There is a good team spirit in our squad and we will have to pick ourselves up straight away. If we show the desire we had against Russia and Portugal, we will be okay.

“I think we were in control of the game and two bad individual decisions, kind of cost us some sort of result against Portugal. Obviously Ronaldo’s individual class shone through then when he was given the opportunity.

“Unfortunately we have dominated games against all three teams we have played without picking up the points and we want to make that right.

“It’s never going to be easy but we need to get back at it.

“We are controlling games at Windsor Park but we have to be more ruthless.”

The one time Celtic starlet believes things are on the way up under O’Neill’s management.

“We are starting to realise how good a team we are when we play,” he added.

“The last few home performances have been great but we need to have belief to turn these performances into results.

“We have to find the right balance whether it is mentality or fitness.

“Realistically we should have another six or seven points but naivety and bad decisions have cost us.”