THE ‘How’ part of his goal against Luxembourg was impressive but the ‘Where’ was even better for Daniel Ballard.
After netting for Northern Ireland in Lithuania, Kosovo, and Spain (Mallorca), the Sunderland defender was clearly delighted to bag his first at Windsor Park in Thursday night’s Nations League opener.
Soon to turn 25, and with that same number of senior appearances to his name, he admitted: “I’ve been dreaming of a goal at Windsor for a long time now so it was nice to finally get that in front of the home fans and my family. It was a really nice moment.
“It was a really enjoyable goal, especially at home. I’ve scored a few away from home so it was nice to finally get one at Windsor and to get the result as well was really good.”
Ballard swept in a first-time front post finish from a low free kick by George Saville so confidently that it was a surprise the set piece hadn’t been rehearsed – although plenty more had:
“That one specifically wasn’t, but we worked on a lot of others. Sometimes a set piece like that in a strange position just comes off-the-cuff. It was a good ball from ‘Sav’ and I was there to finish it.”
Fellow centre half Paddy McNair provided the opening goal in the 2-0 win, after manager Michael O’Neill asked for more goals from defenders, as with the side that went to Euro 2016:
“I think the success they had with set pieces with that really strong team, I feel like we came away from that a little bit, so he has put a big emphasis on getting back to that because it can really help to sway games, and we have been working on it a lot.
“It was nice I scored and also that Paddy got on the scoresheet as well. I know Ciaron [Brown] was disappointed he didn’t score. It is important we all chip in with a few goals to try and win these games.”
Ballard will obviously be happy with anyone scoring a winning away goal in Plovdiv on Sunday against Bulgaria and believes Northern Ireland can earn promotion from League C:
“The goal is to try and win the group and I feel like we are in a strong spot to do that. It was really important we won the first game and we can take a lot of confidence into the next one.
“We will focus on them and look at footage ahead of the game. It will be a more physical, tougher game especially away from home. We just have to prepare right and give it a good go.”
