Niall McGinn offered Northern Ireland defence by Ian Baraclough with 'no blame' verdict after Hungary howler

Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough has defended Niall McGinn after his misplaced pass back in the defeat to Hungary.

The Dundee winger’s pass back to Bailey Peacock-Farrell was pounced on by Roland Sallai, who scored the only goal after 56 minute as the hosts lost their first game at home in a year.

But former Motherwell boss Baraclough insists McGinn has more than enough credit in the bank for his national team to dodge the blame game.

Asked what he said to the ex-Aberdeen playmaker when he came off the pitch, Baraclough said: “Just no blame on him.

“He’s done enough for this country to be forgiven for something like that. Mistakes can happen. I say it to the players all the time – don’t be fearful of making mistakes.

“Niall’s made a mistake and it ends up in the back of the net. It happens.

“I’m disappointed to lose, first and foremost.

“I felt it was a game where we could have come away talking about a win – the chances we created, how many times we worked the goalkeeper, good chances as well.”

Baraclough, who saw an effort from Rangers midfielder Steven Davis come back off the post, added: “On the balance of play, yes they had more possession, but their chances were from outside the box.

Get all the latest Sports news sent straight to your Inbox every day by signing up to our newsletter.

We cover every morsel of information regarding your favourite club in the form of articles, videos and podcasts.

The newsletter will arrive every day at 12pm, giving you a round up of the best stories we've covered that in the last 24 hours.

To sign up, simply enter your email address into the link here.

And if you aren't already, make sure you join the conversation over on our Facebook groups and Record Sport Instagram.

“