Dion Charles issues warning to his Northern Ireland teammates ahead of key Luxembourg clash

Dion Charles insists Northern Ireland cannot afford to get "carried away" just yet as they look to finish the year on a high.

Michael O'Neill's side recorded a fourth successive home win for the first time since 2016 when they beat Belarus 2-0 at Windsor Park on Friday to leave them needing only one point to win the Nations League C Group 3.

Confidence is high among the group with only one defeat in the last five games. Charles, though, wants to finish the job in Luxembourg this evening and he urged his young teammates to focus on the job in hand.

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“We can’t afford to let ourselves get too carried away,” the Bolton striker said. “We have to make sure we rest up, recover and hopefully go there and get another three points. When we came in for this campaign, the objective was to improve and we’re doing that.

“We just have to take it game by game. We’re building confidence and we’re showing some good stuff, but we still have plenty to work on. We’re a really young group but we’re really hungry and we just want to be successful.

"It does give us confidence, but some of us are still relatively new to international football so we have to keep building on it. It's important that we keep performing each time we're out on the pitch and improving.

After the thrilling demolition of Bulgaria last month Northern Ireland had to show a different side to their game as Belarus set out to frustrate their opponents in Belfast. Charles said patience was the key word as they backed themselves to take the chances once they came along. And so it proved as Daniel Ballard nodded his side in front early in the second half before Charles claimed the crucial second from the penalty spot just past the hour mark.

"We knew as long as we could stay in the game we would get chances," he said. "We are a young squad but we're very athletic and we're able to keep going right to the end. We knew the game wasn't going to be won in the first half. I love taking penalties. Everyone looks at you in the stadium and thankfully I hit the back of the net."

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