Michael O’Neill says he is not worried about Northern Ireland being seeded for the play-offs

Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill is not worried that his side are unlikely to be seeded in the World Cup qualifying play-offs after losing to Norway.

O’Neill’s side were assured of one of the eight play-off spots before kick-off on Sunday night following Scotland’s draw in Slovenia.

And O’Neill’s men went on to lose their final group game 1-0, due to an own goal from West Brom’s Chris Brunt.

The defeat means they are likely to face a stronger side – possibly Portugal – in the play-offs next month, but O’Neill is not too concerned.

"We can’t be greedy," he told Sky Sports.

"Let’s be honest, we are up against some great teams potentially in the play-offs and we will just have to deal with whatever draw comes.

"You might play a very good team if you were seeded as well.

"It’s unlikely we will be seeded but we still have an opportunity to go to Russia (for the 2018 World Cup).

"This team is punching above its weight massively, it has done for a considerable amount of time.

"The squad has been stretched massively in this campaign so deserves massive credit, we haven’t rotated the team that much.

"We came through a very difficult group.

"When you’re in a group with Germany you’re almost two games down in terms of getting the points to be the best runners-up, so the players deserve a massive amount of credit for what they have achieved so far."

Had Scotland beaten Slovenia and booked their own play-off spot, Northern Ireland might have needed a result in Oslo but instead the pressure was off.

And O’Neill was pleased that his players who were on bookings avoided yellow cards and suspensions.

"I thought at times we played some good football, at times I thought we were off a little bit," said the manager.

"The lads who were on bookings got through the game without picking anything up, which is a big positive for us.

"It’s disappointing to lose the game, the nature of the goal is unlucky, but the main thing was to make sure we were in that opportunity of the play-off and that was confirmed before we took the field.

"You’re always disappointed when you lose the game and it would have been nice to have another clean sheet but the main thing was to get through tonight unscathed in terms of suspensions, which we have managed to do.

"We can look forward to a massive game in November now."

Northern Ireland will learn their play-off opponents when the draw is made on 17 October in Zurich.

(c) Sky News 2017: Michael O’Neill says he is not worried about Northern Ireland being seeded for the play-offs