Super subs

O'Neill faced difficult choices when it came to his starting XI in Tallinn, with many members of his squad not playing competitive football for a full month before the match, with several others short of match fitness after struggling for playing time at their clubs. You could argue the first-half performance showed he got it wrong but what O'Neill has shown is his ability to pinpoint the problem and fix it with smart substitutions, both in this game and in March when Josh Magennis came off the bench to score the late winner against Belarus, just as he did in Tallinn.

Cooling off

Temperatures in Tallinn over the weekend were unusually high, reaching 30 degrees during the day and still in the high 20s during Saturday's match thanks to the late evening sun. Several of O'Neill's players spoke of being physically drained after the game so they will be grateful for a late kick-off time on Tuesday. Although Borisov is due to enjoy similar temperatures during the day, the match will begin at 9.45pm local time, and the mercury should have dropped considerably. An extra factor for Northern Ireland to deal with, however, is travel. Due to limited accommodation, the team will stay in Minsk, a 75-minute bus trip away from the Borisov Arena.

Digging deep

A draining night in Tallinn will leave O'Neill with further selection headaches as he must find a balance between building on the momentum of a dramatic win with finding fresh legs in his squad. He is not short of options for freshening up the side, with the likes of Magennis, Jordan Jones and Corry Evans ready to come in if needed.

No joy for Belarus

Northern Ireland will be facing a Belarus team who have lost their opening three qualifiers, conceding eight goals in the process and scoring just one. That goal came in a 2-1 loss to Northern Ireland in Belfast in March, while they were routed 4-0 by the Dutch earlier this year and went down 2-0 to Germany at home on Saturday.

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Ian Parker, Press Association Sport, Minsk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '8511d1e1-3256-4763-9990-273036e2e207');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': '5 talking points ahead of Belarus v Northern Ireland'});