Saturday 12 November 2016 11:30, UK
Michael O'Neill hailed the performance of Chris Brunt after he returned to Northern Ireland's side in their 4-0 win over Azerbaijan.
Brunt, who missed Euro 2016 with injury, made his first international appearance in 13 months as Northern Ireland eased to a victory that moves them up to second in World Cup Qualifying Group C.
Kyle Lafferty fired in the opening goal from a long throw before Gareth McAuley and Conor McLaughlin scored from set pieces.
The scoring was rounded off when Brunt's shot was flicked in by Steven Davis.
Asked about Brunt's display, O'Neill told Sky Sports: "He was brilliant. We don't have a like-for-like replacement so when we lost him in the summer [at Euro 2016] we had to change our system. We saw his class tonight."
Northern Ireland are now above Azerbaijan on goal difference and O'Neill was pleased their gameplan paid off.
"We played Josh [Magennis] purposefully on the right because we knew their full-back was small, so we exploited that," he said.
"We got a lot of balls in the box and knew they would struggle to defend that. It was a comfortable victory in the end."
Next up for Northern Ireland is another home match next in March when they face Norway.
"We have drilled it into them, they know how we want to play," said O'Neill. "They make good decisions at the right times, three of our back four scored, so we are delighted with the result."
