Michael O'Neill hails Dan Ballard impact as Sunderland defender proves fitness for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill hailed the presence of Sunderland defender Dan Ballard as he notched his third Northern Ireland goal in his last five appearances in Friday night's 2-0 win over Belarus.

The Black Cats star has endured a frustrating season at club level due to injuries, but returned to Regis Le Bris' squad in the last two games and could be in line for a key role when they resume Championship action against Millwall next weekend. Ballard left no one in any doubt that he is ready to be thrown into the fray once more, with a strong performance and a goal in Northern Ireland's Nation League win.

After Ballard headed home the opener from captain Shea Charles' corner, Northern Ireland were awarded a penalty for a handball by Kirill Pechenin which Dion Charles dispatched, much to O'Neill's delighted, with Belarus sitting back and trying to frustrate the hosts.

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Ballard's goal was his third in his last five internationals, and a big moment for a player who has struggled with injury since the summer. The Sunderland man, who has played only 11 minutes for his club in two months, was taken off after 70 minutes.

"He'll be pleased with that," O'Neill said. "We need a presence in the box, we haven't really replaced that since big Gareth (McAuley) left. Jonny (Evans) gave us a physical presence, and you need to have a centre-half who can really have an impact in both boxes."

O'Neill was also delighted for Dion Charles, who got his fourth international goal on the night of his 27th cap.

"I think that's very important," O'Neill said of his goal. "His performance was very good. He gives us a little bit of everything. He'll be disappointed he didn't score in the first half but I think it's important for him.

"He's come into international football a little bit later but he's been a regular scorer for Bolton in League One for two and a half seasons and I think it's very important for him to score at this level."

Last month Northern Ireland ran riot in a 5-0 win over Bulgaria, but O'Neill had expected this to be a harder challenge and had spoken to his players about needing to be patient and manage their frustration - something they were able to do.

"We worked on this all week," O'Neill said. "If you don't score early in the game the opposition get confident and believe in what they're doing. They sat deep, let us get to the halfway line or just inside the half and then we had to find a solution but the distances were short and it was difficult to get in behind.

"We caused our own problems with some of the choices we made as well. I'd said before it's the area of the team that still needs the most improvement but it's the hardest part to improve when you've 10 men behind the ball.

"We sat them down at half-time and showed them where they'd done well and where they needed to improve. We felt we had to play a little bit, not more direct, but recognise the areas to get the ball in behind and in the second half great right from the outset in terms of how we pressed the ball.

"We let them know that we were going to be very much all over them in terms of pressure in their half and then we get the breakthrough and the game changes because the opposition have to come out. I was glad to get the penalty and then I thought we probably could have added to that."