McConville and Atcheson anchor Northern Ireland’s defence ahead of Nations League finales

Ruairi McConville and Tom Atcheson have formed the central defensive pairing for Northern Ireland as they prepare to play Ukraine in Belfast on Saturday and then travel to Budapest to face Hungary on Tuesday in the concluding Group B2 fixtures of the Nations League. The Ukraine match is scheduled for Saturday, 14 November at 19:45 GMT.

Michael O'Neill, who previously relied on centre-backs Jonny Evans, Aaron Hughes, Gareth McAuley and Craig Cathcart during his first spell and a flat back-four at Euro 2016, reverted to a three-at-the-back system after returning to the job four years ago. Sunderland duo Trai Hume and Dan Ballard have supplied what the article describes as an injection of Premier League quality to a squad largely drawn from the Championship and League One, although Hume has covered the injured Conor Bradley on the right and even started in centre midfield against Ukraine last month while Ballard is presently nursing an injured hamstring. Despite those enforced changes, Northern Ireland lead Group B2 and remain the only side at any level of the competition yet to concede a goal.

At 21, Norwich City's McConville has emerged as a defensive leader since his debut off the bench at home to Belarus two years ago this week, and he was among those tasked with containing Alexander Isak during a 5-1 defeat by Sweden early in his international career. McConville has led this Nations League group in clearances made with both head and boot and said: "It would be unbelievable to keep that record for these last two games and go the whole of the campaign," he said of what is Northern Ireland's longest run without conceding a goal since 2017.

McConville has occupied the middle centre-back role formerly held by Ballard for the past three games, with Atcheson deployed on the right and Oxford United's Ciaron Brown, "himself superb through the campaign so far," on the left. On the developing understanding within the defensive unit, McConville added: "We're a team that works hard, a team that doesn't want to give anything up. "We're confident in ourselves and we know that we're a good side." He also said: "We're enjoying playing together. "It's still early days together and we have to keep taking it game by game and doing what the gaffer tells us and the work on the training pitch. "We don't have much time together when we're here [in international camp] so it's important to do all we can."

Atcheson, 20, has six caps after making his international bow in a friendly against Wales in March when he had only four senior club starts to his name at Blackburn Rovers. He made his first Northern Ireland start against Guinea in June, scoring the winner with a "fabulous flick" before later being shown a red card, and remains some 428 minutes into his international career without conceding. The England-born defender said Ballard "is definitely a big miss" and added: "I feel like everyone knows what they need to do, everyone knows their job, the details of the formation we play and system," he said. "That's so key and I think that's why we're so solid defensively. "It's a team thing, we're set up right, we're very on it all the time and everyone gives their all."

O'Neill has described the pair as having "no ceiling" and they have been central to the defensive work that has produced the shutout run. The immediate test for that partnership comes in Belfast on Saturday and then in Budapest on Tuesday as Northern Ireland seek to complete their Nations League group fixtures.

Saturday's match kicks off at 19:45 GMT on 14 November; viewers can watch on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two NI from 19:15 GMT, listen on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster, and follow watch, listen, live text and clips on the BBC Sport app and website.