Nigel Worthington was delighted with his team after the draw

Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington described his team's performance in the scoreless World Cup qualifier draw with the Czech Republic as "outstanding".

"I think we could've won it - in the first half we got it down, played some good football, created chances and put them on the back foot," he said.

"They had a bit of possession in the second half but we stood firm and kept our discipline and shape.

"The players were excellent against one of the top sides in Europe."

Worthington was quick to support striker David Healy, who has now gone three games without a goal.

"It is not a problem - David just needs some regular football to get his match sharpness up to speed.

"He's got the ability, technique and guile to score goals.

"He's one of our heroes and I will back him 100%. All he's got to do is get in the Sunderland team, start scoring goals and the confidence will soon come flooding back."

Northern Ireland captain Aaron Hughes was pleased to get a first point in the campaign after Saturday's opening 2-1 defeat in Slovakia.

"We'll take the point. The Czechs are a very good side and we saw that tonight," said the Fulham defender.

"There were periods in the game when they kept the ball and made us work hard.

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"We didn't make as many chances as we had wanted to but the least we wanted from the game was a clean sheet and we did that.

"We've picked up a point, we're up and running and hopefully we can move on from here."

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