Michael O’Neill saw plenty of positives to take from Northern Ireland’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Denmark as he kept his sights firmly on the World Cup qualifying campaign that starts in September.

Christian Eriksen’s second-half strike completed a come-from-behind win for the Danes as Northern Ireland suffered a second straight defeat after March’s 5-1 loss to Sweden.

But Saturday’s match was not about the result for O’Neill, who wanted to give his young squad another tough test away to top-level opposition with a trip to Germany looming after they open their qualifying campaign in Luxembourg.

From that point of view there was plenty for Northern Ireland to be happy with. After taking the lead through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s early own goal, O’Neill’s men did not allow Denmark a shot on ta

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