Ciaron Brown: Northern Ireland in no mood to play for draw in Slovakia

Ciaron Brown insists Northern Ireland have no interest in trying to play for a draw in Friday's pivotal World Cup qualifier away to Slovakia. Pic: Cody Froggatt/PA Wire.

Ciaron Brown insists Northern Ireland have no interest in trying to play for a draw in Friday's pivotal World Cup qualifier away to Slovakia.

If Northern Ireland take a point in Kosice and then beat Luxembourg at home on Monday, the battle for the top two positions in Group A could come down to goal difference and potentially favour Michael O'Neill's men.

But after putting in their best performance of recent times in beating Slovakia 2-0 in Belfast last month, Brown was clear Northern Ireland have their sights set not on one point but three.

"I think everyone's mindset, every player going into that game, you never go into a game trying to not lose," the Oxford defender said. "We'll be going into the game trying to win...

"It will be a very difficult game. Obviously being away from home makes it difficult in itself and losing a few key players in certain positions is going to make it difficult.

"But we've got a good squad of players here and it gives opportunities for boys who maybe haven't played as much to step in and show what they're about.

"Us and (Slovakia) have probably got the exact same aim of what we're trying to do so it's going to be difficult, but hopefully we are ready."

If Northern Ireland miss out in Group A, it remains highly likely they will be in the play-offs regardless come March by virtue of having won their Nations League group last year.

O'Neill has described that as a "safety net", but it is not something on the players' minds.

"I wouldn't say we think about that," Brown added. "We look at the opportunity we've paved for ourselves to this point and we've got a great opportunity here to win these two games and put ourselves in a good place.

"I don't think many of the boys would think, 'We can take risks because we have a safety net'. I think the boys are in a place now where they're confident enough to take that risk, not because there's a safety net, but because they've got themselves to a point where they are confident enough."

Brown, 27, missed six months with a knee injury suffered in April, ruling him out of the start of this campaign.

He was called into the October camp but did not feature, still getting himself up to speed, but has played in every game for Oxford since and could be called upon by O'Neill now as injuries to Shea Charles, Ali McCann and Brodie Spencer, plus Ethan Galbraith's suspension, force a re-jig.

"Coming into the last campaign I spoke to Michael and he knew the place I was in, being injured prior to that," Brown said. "He wanted me to be around it, to come in and train with the boys to be part of it.

"Since then I've gone back to Oxford and played every game until now so hopefully the fitness is in a good place and it puts me in good stead to hopefully give the manager a hard choice to make."