Northern Ireland's goalkeepers 'testing each other'

Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Conor Hazard — Conor Hazard has tested himself against Premier League giants Liverpool and Manchester City [Getty Images]

Northern Ireland's Conor Hazard says the goalkeepers in Michael O'Neill's squad are "all improving each other" as they contend for selection for their upcoming matches with Switzerland and Sweden.

The Plymouth Argyle stopper has been number one choice for the Championship club this season and impressed against Premier League opponents Liverpool and Manchester City during the Pilgrims' FA Cup run.

The 27-year-old has had to be patient throughout his international career, winning just eight caps since his debut against Costa Rica in 2018.

With 48-times capped Bailey Peacock-Farrell left out of the squad for the two upcoming friendlies, and Pierce Charles not featuring regularly for Sheffield Wednesday, Hazard will be hopeful of adding to his international appearances.

Bolton's Luke Southwood is also in the group for the forthcoming double-header.

"At international level you're always going to be performing against the best and luckily we have three or four top goalkeepers in Northern Ireland at the moment and we're all here to try and get that number one spot," the former Celtic goalkeeper told BBC Sport NI.

"It's been an up and down season for me, getting injured at the start of the season and after coming back fit we've had a number of huge fixtures that I've been involved in."

Plymouth defeated Liverpool 1-0 in the fourth round of the FA Cup but lost 3-0 to Man City in round five.

"I'm always delighted to be back playing and performing. As a professional athlete you want to test yourself against the best and we were doing that against Liverpool and City.

"It's something I want to do for the rest of my career."

Hazard says the squad are looking forward to testing themselves against quality opposition in the form of the Swiss and the Swedes over the coming week as preparation for their World Cup qualifiers which kick off in September.

"We're all very motivated and we all can see the talent we have in the group and the hard working group we have.

"We're striving towards something special. Not many people get to perform in the World Cup qualifiers and it's definitely our aim to qualify.

"This is a team in the top 20 in the world coming on Friday and we know what they're going to bring. But we also know what we can do and what we believe in so we're looking forward to testing ourselves."

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