Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill said he had to avoid the team becoming "very disjointed" after not bringing Ross County striker Ronan Hale off the bench in his side's 5-1 friendly loss to Sweden on Tuesday night.
The former Cliftonville man was the subject of a lengthy international transfer after previously representing Republic of Ireland at youth level and was included in O'Neill's squad for the first time this month.
But the 26-year-old was an unused substitute in friendlies against Switzerland and Sweden with O'Neill saying he did not want to bring him on "slightly out of position" in the latter with the team already 5-0 behind.
"It's very difficult in that situation," he said.
"You can throw on another player and play him slightly out of position, but at that time we're trailing in the game 5-0.
"I have to protect the morale of the team a little bit, the team can get very disjointed at that point in time."
O'Neill added that Hale will have benefitted from the experience of being away with the squad for the first time.
He said: "Those players will get their chances.
"They will go back to their clubs, they have to get minutes and do well.
"This is Ronan's first trip, he will understand what we want from him from what he's seen in training."
