Pierce and Shea Charles – along with their Northern Ireland team-mates – found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline in their friendly against Sweden this evening.
Shea took the captain’s armband and the pair both played the full 90 minutes as the young Northern Ireland side went down to a heavy defeat in Stockholm.
Sweden went three-up on the hour before two Premier League strikers found their mark – Newcastle’s Alexander Isak firing a 25-yarder past keeper Pierce and Forest’s Anthony Elanga tapping home a fifth goal – before a deflected last-minute effort from Isaac Price at least put Northern Ireland on the scoresheet.