Baraclough vows to win Northern Ireland fans back

Ian Baraclough has insisted Northern Ireland are on the right track despite hearing an angry reaction to Thursday's 3-2 defeat in Kosovo as travelling fans called on him to go.

Some 500 fans had made the trip to Pristina and, after the final whistle saw Northern Ireland's winless record in the Nations League extended to 13 games, they chanted "Cheerio" to the manager as he went to acknowledge their support.

Baraclough, who had targeted 12 points from this month's four games but has seen his side collect only one from the opening three, said that response was "understandable", but claimed Northern Ireland had taken a big stride forward in terms of performance as new faces gained needed experience.

"You're trying to build performances, build that connectivity, build confidence within the group, players that are going into games maybe doubting if they're right at this level, so you're trying to give them that confidence that they are good enough," he said.

"We don't like the result but the performance was there, I don't think they let down the supporters in what they gave in terms of fight and energy and the ability to go and break down a Kosovan side and create chances and put them on the back foot.

"For me you take that into Sunday's game, you get the performance right, you cut out the little basic errors that have cost us."

Baraclough has claimed extenuating circumstances throughout this camp, pointing to an injury list that includes Stuart Dallas, Josh Magennis, Corry Evans, Craig Cathcart and more - Paddy McNair having joined their number on Thursday - but another Nations League campaign has been a false dawn.

Entering the group as top seeds, Northern Ireland had genuine hopes of a securing a European Championship play-off