After losing to Poland in their opening Euro 2016 group match, Northern Ireland looked ahead on Wednesday (15th June) to Thursday's must-win match against Ukraine.

Northern Ireland need to get some points on the board when they face Ukraine in their second Group C game in Lyon on Thursday.

Michael O'Neill's men fell to a 1-0 defeat to Poland on Sunday (12th June), and realistically must beat Ukraine if they are to progress to the knockout stages of Euro 2016.

O'Neill said they are not ready to go home and will be mentally ready for the Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English) Michael O'Neill, Northern Ireland manager:

"I think we are settled into the tournament, I think we were well settled in to it anyway. You know, the key, one should come into the tournament, there's an excitement building into the first game. And as I said, we're not alone in this, having lost the first game. I think there's a natural fear of 'when do you home?'. I think other countries will feel the same. We have to make sure that's our motivating factor and I have no doubt it will be, that we actually love our base, we want to stay there as long as long as we can, so we do. We want to make sure that we play tomorrow's game like a Cup final, we know the significance of three points."

As Northern Ireland's final group game will be against world champions Germany, O'Neill admitted that his side want to go into that game still fighting.

Michael O'Neill, Northern Ireland manager: (On which of their next two games - against Ukraine and Germany - is more winnable)

"Which one do you think is more winnable? Given that the Germans are the world champions, it's a tough question. Of course, naturally when we looked at the group and the nature of the fixtures, Ukraine will look at the tournament and go, 'Our best chance of winning the games is against Poland and Northern Ireland', Poland will look at the group and go, 'Our best chances are playing against Northern Ireland and Ukraine', we all have the same approach in relation to that. I think we will have to be at our very best to win the game, we will have to better in a lot of aspects of our play than in game one, but our object always was to make sure that going into game three (against Germany), we had something to play for. Hopefully Germany will have six points by that stage and maybe have their eye on what lies ahead, but equally when you have a squad of world-class players from (numbers) one to 23, it's a nice problem to have. We have always approached the tournament on a game-by-game basis, our approach to this game wouldn't really have changed, had we won the game or drawn the game (against Poland). We always knew that when this game came around, as I said, the emphasis is now more on going to win the game, and that's what our objective will be, but if we have to beat the Germans in game three, we'll prepare in such a way that hopefully will give us a chance to do so."

Defender Steven Davis said that although the loss to Poland had been a huge disappointment, he remained positive. (On whether Northern Ireland have something to prove against Ukraine)

"I don't think so. I think it was very difficult when we came directly off the pitch (after losing 1-0 to Poland). Emotions are high, frustrations maybe come out, and you're going straight into an interview and obviously having to talk about it, and maybe you don't analyse the game in the correct way. The players spoke from the heart after the game and there's a huge sense of disappointment. You can't fault anyone for that, but I think maybe sit back and analyse the game. We defended very well and stayed in the game until the very end. Poland are a good side. I think, as Michael (O'Neill) said, from ourselves I think we are capable of playing better with the ball, stamping our own authority on the game. That's something we need to try and find, a better balance in the game tomorrow night."

Germany and Poland both have three points in Group C, with Germany ahead on goal difference, while Northern Ireland and Ukraine have no points.