Defender Jonny Evans has admitted that Northern Ireland's achievement of reaching the World Cup playoffs has not sunk in yet.

Although the Green and White Army lost their last qualifier away at Norway by a scoreline of 1-0, the 19 points they had accumulated was enough to secure second place in Group C behind reigning world champions Germany.

"It is an amazing achievement, sometimes maybe we're a bit humble about it and forget what we've achieved. Maybe it'll sink in when the fixtures are announced," he told reporters after the game.

"I think you can see how much it's going to mean to every country to be a part of that. Obviously there's going to be some big nations who were maybe expected to qualify automatically who are going to be in there and it will be a lot of pressure on them to get through."

Northern Ireland last qualified for the World Cup in Mexico 1986.