Feeney prepares for must-win clash

Warren Feeney accepts failure to beat Estonia tomorrow will put “a nail in the coffin” of Northern Ireland’s Euro 2012 dream.

Nigel Worthington’s side saw their hopes of moving into a play-off place in Group C dashed on Friday night as they slipped to fifth in the table following a 1-0 home defeat to Serbia.

The unpredictable nature of results in the group to date mean they are not yet out of the race for second but they are likely to need home and away wins over Estonia before springing a huge surprise in Italy in the final round of matches.

The players were left disappointed by their narrow loss to Serbia but Feeney knows another setback now would be fatal to the campaign.

“We’re still in it, but this is one we know we have to win now,” he said.

“In these last three games we have to get as many points on the board as we can.

“This is the one that will probably put a nail in the coffin in terms of qualifying if we don’t.

“We were disappointed with the Serbia result but it’s gone now and we want to move on to the next game. We have to pick ourselves up for the next one and if we get the result everything will change for us.”

While Northern Ireland go into the game on the back of a deflating home defeat, their hosts tomorrow are fresh from a second surprising away win of the campaign.

Despite some poor results in the last year, notably defeat in the Faroe Islands, they defeated Slovenia on their own turf on Friday having done the same to Serbia in Belgrade.

Feeney believes that result will lift Estonia.

“It’s not just about us, you have to look at Estonia as well and at the moment they are the ones with the momentum,” he said.

“They’ve pulled off wins against Serbia and now Slovenia, two fantastic results.

“But we’ve been here before and David Healy scored back then in a 1-0 win. It would be great if we could repeat that.”

The Plymouth striker admits the players have sensed frustration from fans and media in the wake of Friday’s reverse.

One fan stormed out of Windsor Park after hurling his replica shirt at the dugout, but Feeney believes such actions come from inflated expectations.

“I saw the fan when I was warming up and it’s not nice,” said Feeney.

“There’s been a wee bit of negativity in the papers and it does get talked about, I’m not going to lie.

“We’re as frustrated as they are. I know because I used to go and watch Northern Ireland as a boy myself.

“We’re not blessed with superstars, but look at the other night when Windsor Park was rocking. When I was a kid we only used to get 4,000 in. That shows expectations have risen.”