West Brom's Chris Brunt 'gutted' to miss out on World Cup place

The Albion stalwart was one of three Baggies in the Northern Ireland team that drew 0-0 with Switzerland on Sunday night.

That draw put the Swiss through to Russia 2018 after they beat Michael O’Neill’s side 1-0 in Belfast thanks to a controversial penalty.

Ricardo Rodriguez slotted the spot-kick after Corry Evans was judged to have handled the ball despite it hitting his back.

Brunt missed Euro 2016, Northern Ireland’s first major tournament in 30 years, because of a cruciate knee injury he picked up playing for the Baggies.

And now the 32-year-old has missed out on the World Cup because of poor officiating.

“Gutted, obviously,” he said. “First leg we didn’t play very well but we played some good stuff (in the second leg) and deserved to take something out of the game.

“Obviously it wasn’t enough, we rode our luck a couple of times as well. After the way we performed in Belfast, we just wanted to make sure we didn’t leave anything on the pitch. To be fair I don’t think we did. We can hold our heads up and be proud of what we tried to do but it was just a little bit short.”

Although Brunt was the victim of yet another cruel twist of fate, he was proud of Northern Ireland’s performance in Basel and their qualifying campaign as a whole.

“To be beaten over two legs by a terrible decision doesn’t make it any easier,” he said. “But that’s football.

“Some decisions you get, some you don’t. Switzerland have had a big one over the two legs.

“With Germany in our group, realistically a play-off place is always what we were playing for.

“To get that and to lose to that penalty over two legs against a good side, it’s difficult to take.”

With 62 caps to his name, Brunt is the Albion player who has won the most international caps while playing for the club.

He plays in the Northern Irish defence alongside Baggies team-mates Gareth McAuley and Jonny Evans, but it has been suggested that he and McAuley will now contemplate international retirement.

O’Neill believes it is too early to be making those sort of decisions while emotions are still raw.

“The players are emotional and upset,” said the manager. “There were some players in tears, everyone was struggling to hold back their emotions.

“For some of these players it’s unlikely that the World Cup will ever come round again.

“It’s a difficult time and they will make considerations going forward. Certainly the likes of Aaron (Huhges) and Gareth at 38 and 37, and Chris Brunt... these players have had long and established Northern Ireland careers. But they have time to make that decision.”

Brunt had two efforts on target in the opening half and then Evans nearly levelled the tie in injury time with a header at the back post that was cleared off the line by Rodriguez.

“At that stage of the game you’re seeing about five different balls coming into the box, the lads were out on their feet towards the end,” said the Baggies skipper. “When I got the header, the lad’s cleared it off the line, he was in the right place at the right time.

“After our performance and the way we applied ourselves as a team, we can be proud that we gave everything. I think we showed why we were in the play-offs.”