Town central defender Gareth McAuley has hailed Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia at Windsor Park as the most important match he has played to date. McAuley’s Northern Ireland are in with a chance of making it to South Africa next summer but need to beat the table-topping Slovakians (Sky Sports 3, 7.30pm).
The former Town skipper said: "This is the biggest game of my career. It’s huge and there is no getting away from it. We’ve got to go and win. It’s not one that we’re nervous about, we can’t wait for it.
"We don’t want to have any regrets and we’ve got to play like it’s our last game ever. We’ve got to go at them, close them down, press all over the pitch and try to get goals.
"The World Cup is within touching distance. We’ve two games left, two big games, the Slovakia game and the match in the Czech Republic next month.
"We’ve got to go that extra yard because the prize at the end of it is massive.”
McAuley, who plays at right-back for his country, has won 18 full caps and has scored one goal.