Sammy McIlroy was impressed with many of his players

Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy has said his team deserves credit despite seeing them fail to win for the 10th successive game on Tuesday night.

Six NI players made their full international debuts in Campobasso as McIlroy, deprived of many of his top players, prepared for the 11 June European Championship qualifier against Spain in Belfast.

Northern Ireland have now gone 882 minutes without scoring and, while the NI boss knows his critics will highlight that statistic, he preferred to be positive.

"That is what sickens me," said McIlroy.

"I have a young team out there who gave me 110 per cent but the headlines will be about how many minutes we have gone without scoring.

"There were some fantastic performances out there and I am proud of my team.

"Italy have got a squad of 22 world class players.

"The second goal was especially dubious as the referee played advantage becaue the ball went to a player in a white shirt who was surrounded by Italian players.

"Then they go straight up the pitch and score. That killed us off a little bit.

"But this was all about preparing for the game against Spain. That is why were are here and there were plenty of plusses."

NI skipper Aaron Hughes said they could not be too disappointed.

"When you look at our team, there were players making their first appearances and they were not nervous and coped well.