Lafferty aglow after Northern Irish Hungary win
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Article summary
"When we dig deep, we'll pick up points," beamed winning goalscorer Kyle Lafferty but Northern Ireland's 2-1 win left a bitter taste for Hungary's Tamás Priskin.
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• "We can beat anyone," says Northern Ireland match winner Kyle Lafferty
• Niall McGinn warns against complacency with Faroe Islands next up
• Goalscorer Tamás Priskin "very disappointed" with Hungary slump
Kyle Lafferty, Northern Ireland forward
When we dig deep, we'll pick up points and we've done that. We knew we'd always get an opportunity and thankfully [Niall McGinn] was on the end of my cross and I was on the end of his, so it was a good combination and thankfully we went on to win. I think I know the way Niall plays. We met up a day or two early for this game and I think it's paid off, so everyone has to be over the moon with the result.
We can't get ahead of ourselves. These are the kind of games, when we're underdogs, that we go out and pick up points, but it's the next game against the Faroe Islands – when we should beat them – those are the games where we've struggled.
Niall McGinn, Northern Ireland forward
I was delighted to come on and help the team and to see the big man [Lafferty] get the winner. We can't get ahead of ourselves too much. We've got the win which is great for us and sets us up nicely for the second game, but [we have] another two away games in the next three so we know there are tough games ahead.
Michael O'Neill, Northern Ireland manager
You could see Hungary were under great pressure. You could see the relief on their faces when they scored. When we equalised, you could see the Hungary players became deflated – we felt the game was there for the taking.
Roy Carroll, Northern Ireland goalkeeper
They scored from a corner kick when the guy rose very well and got a great header but we came back, our heads never went down, we came back and fought and got the three points and that's what we're celebrating tonight.
Attila Pintér, Hungary coach
I feel this result is a failure. We need to look at what went wrong. We made unforgivable defensive mistakes and had lapses in concentration in the last ten minutes. We need to learn from tonight and eradicate the defensive errors.
Tamás Priskin, Hungary forward
To be honest, I am very disappointed that we lost. We controlled the game until the first goal, then we scored the first so we should have kept the lead until the end. Unfortunately after the goal, I don't know what happened. We tried to hurry the game, then they scored two goals and we lost the match.