Serbia 2 Northern Ireland 1: Goalkeeper Camp will not go quietly after pitching up to take injured Taylor’s place

The former England Under-21 international was called into the Northern Ireland squad for the first time after receiving the green light from FIFA last month and made his debut after long-term No 1 Taylor was ruled out through injury.

Camp made a couple of impressive saves and looked generally assured in Belgrade, though defeat took the sheen off the experience somewhat.

The 26-year-old will make his second appearance against Slovenia at Windsor Park tomorrow.

“I absolutely loved the experience,” said Camp. “I know things didn’t go our way but making my debut was a very proud moment for me and my family.

“I’m now here to be the No 1. I got my chance earlier than expected with Maik’s injury but I don’t intend on giving up the shirt. I’m a very focused and driven person and I now want to establish myself as the main ‘keeper in the Northern Ireland team.

“It’s been a great week and I’ve enjoyed every minute of the build-up to the actual game. Obviously I’m very disappointed not to finish a winner in my first game but there is plenty for us to build on.”

Camp’s best moment came when he produced a superb reaction save in the second half as Serbia chased an equaliser to Gareth McAuley’s opener.

He modestly put his intervention down to good fortune, but believes Serbia had plenty of that themselves when they scored through Marko Pantelic and livewire Zoran Tosic.

“I honestly didn’t know anything about it,” Camp said of his save. “It just hit me – I don’t even know which part of the body it came off. There was an element of luck about it, but I’ll take that, especially considering how unlucky we were with their two goals soon after.

“I really do think both their goals had an element of luck about them.

“On the first one the guy scuffed his pass and then I think Marko Pantelic got a little deflection which obviously helped it go in.

“The second goal definitely got a deflection and it really could have gone anywhere but unfortunately for us it ended up in the back of the net. It was really bad luck.”

Nigel Worthington’s side saw their qualification hopes plunge after the defeat, their first in four Group C matches, but Camp was heartened by what he saw from a youthful side.

The likes of Craig Cathcart, Johnny Gorman and Corry Evans were pitched into battle against a side with big-name talent and, until the 65th minute, were on top.

“We have a good team and therefore we can build on this performance, learn and ultimately improve. The results will come,” added Camp.

“Up until the first goal we were by far the better side – we matched them and then beat them in every department on the ball. I thought we outplayed them in the first half.

“Then they changed their formation at half-time. We knew and had spoken about the fact they would be playing their usual 4-2-3-1 formation but we made them change. They needed to think more if they wanted to beat us.”