Michael O’Neill says his Northern Ireland side will learn from letting a two-goal lead slip in Luxembourg.
Goals by Isaac Price and Conor Bradley were cancelled out by Seid Korac and Gerson Rodrigues but Northern Ireland held on for the point they needed to earn promotion to League B in the Nations League.
Despite Luxembourg’s fightback, O’Neill said he was “really pleased” with the performance as Northern Ireland dominated the game before the hosts struck.
“If you take the scoreline out of the situation, I thought some of our play was terrific,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“Look at 2-0 and you are comfortable and think you are going to see the game out. We had chances to add to it but we didn’t.”
Despite only requiring a draw to earn promotion in Luxembourg, O’Neill had said victory was the only thing on the mind of his team in their final Nations League Group C3 match.
It started well when Price swept home Shea Charles’ pass in the 19th minute and Bradley’s header added a second after the restart.
Northern Ireland had opportunities to add to their advantage, but they were rocked when Korac slid home in the 72nd minute and Rodrigues set up a tense and tetchy final 15 minutes with a well-taken equaliser.
O’Neill added that “there is a little lesson in there” after the two quick-fire goals rocked Northern Ireland.
“The opposition score off a set piece and then it breathes a bit of life into them,” O’Neill added.
“The second goal for them is a great strike and suddenly the game is 2-2 when it never looked like it was going to go that way.
“The scoreline probably wasn’t a fair reflection on the game, but the opposition deserve credit.”