EURO friendly report card: Northern Ireland

Results
Thursday: Wales 1-1 Northern Ireland (Church 89p; Cathcart 60)
McGovern; McAuley, Evans (D Lafferty 73), Cathcart; McNair (Paton 74); Davies, Dallas (Ferguson 90), Norwood, MacLaughlin (Hughes 81); K Lafferty (McKay 81), Washington (Ward 46)

Wales manager Chris Coleman named an experimental lineup while both sides changed their defensive shape. On a slippery playing surface, Northern Ireland's Craig Cathcart opened the scoring, turning to shoot past goalkeeper Danny Ward. However, in the last minute, Welsh substitute Simon Church dusted himself down after being impeded in the box to slot the equaliser from penalty spot.

Monday: Northern Ireland 1-0 Slovenia (Washington 41)
Carroll; Smith (McLaughlin 71), Cathcart, J Evans, McAuley (Hughes 46); Norwood, McNair (McGinn 79), Davis, Ferguson (Dallas 60); Washington (Magennis 70), Ward (Lafferty 60)

Conor Washington scored his first goal for Northern Ireland as Michael O'Neill's men made it a national record ten games unbeaten. Queens Park Rangers forward Washington, given his debut in the 1-1 draw in Wales, rifled in a shot before the break. Roy Carroll preserved the hosts' lead by saving Milovoje Novakovič's 65th-minute spot kick, awarded after Jonny Evans was penalised for pulling back Miral Samardžić.

What we learned
1) New boy Washington, 23, has added another striking option to O'Neill's squad.

2) Paddy McNair is capable of playing the holding midfield role in 3-5-2 formation.

3) Veteran keeper Carroll, 38, is ready to push Michael McGovern for the No1 shirt.

Questions remain
▪ O'Neill has started with a 3-5-2 system in his last three friendlies. Will he opt for the same strategy in France or stick with the 4-3-3 template used in qualification?

▪ With West Bromwich Albion's Chris Brunt ruled out of the finals through injury, who will O'Neill choose to play at left-back in a back four or as a left wing-back in a 3-5-2?

▪ Does O'Neill deploy two out-and-out strikers in his 3-5-2 or instead utilise Jamie Ward alongside either Kyle Lafferty or Conor Washington to allow a switch to a 4-3-3 mid-game?

Room for improvement
While O'Neill is keen to field a 3-5-2 formation in France – it offers front-foot options in possession and enables him to get two forwards on the pitch – the new strategy and approach still need further work and fine-tuning on the training pitch.

EURO certainties (if fit)
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll (Notts County), Michael McGovern (Hamilton), Alan Mannus (St Johnstone)

Defenders: Jonny Evans (WBA), Gareth McAuley (WBA), Craig Cathcart (Watford), Aaron Hughes (Melbourne City), Conor McLaughlin (Fleetwood Town), Chris Baird (Fulham)

Midfielders: Steven Davis (Southampton), Oliver Norwood (Reading), Paddy McNair (Manchester United), Shane Ferguson (Millwall), Stuart Dallas (Leeds United), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Corry Evans (Blackburn Rovers)

Forwards: Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City), Conor Washington (QPR), Josh Magennis (Kilmarnock), Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest)

Media view
Steven Beacom, Belfast Telegraph writer
"It's now TEN games in a row without defeat. No Northern Ireland team has ever done that before. Who knows when it will end? What we do know is that, by moving to ten successive games without a loss, O'Neill's modern-day heroes have eclipsed the deeds of Billy Bingham's legends from yesteryear. Between November 1979 and October 1980, and March 1985 and June 1986, Bingham's teams put together nine-match unbeaten runs. Now that record has been surpassed."