Hi °C | Lo °C Aaron Hughes left Windsor Park on Saturday night to embark on a three-and-a-half month break from international football.
Whatever happens in that space of time, he is hoping for one bit of news to come out of the Irish Football Association's Windsor Avenue headquarters.
The Northern Ireland captain has played under four managers since Lawrie McMenemy handed him his debut in March 1998.
Sammy McIlroy made him captain four years later and it's a job that he has fulfiled through the reigns of Lawrie Sanchez and then Nigel Worthington since the summer of 2007.
And he isn't interested in a fifth name being added to the list — not yet at least.
Worthington will commence discussions to renew his contract with the Irish FA as soon as he, President Raymond Kennedy and chief executive Patrick Nelson can arrange to be in the same place at the same time and with thoughts turning towards the beginning of the Euro 2012 qualifying series next autumn, Hughes wants those talks to start and reach a successful conclusion as soon as possible.
“The contract will be sorted by Nigel and the IFA,” said Hughes
“As players we came here focused on putting in a good performance against a top team and I think we've done that.
“We go away now — I think February or March will be the next game — and hopefully things will be sorted out in the meantime between the association and the manager and we can move on.
“I've said before the end of the last campaign that if we can get it sorted that would be good because he knows the players, we know him and for someone else to come in it would be changing things again and it would break up the continuity we've had for the last couple of years.
“It's not down to us, but that's a player’s opinion and I'm sure the IFA will put something to Nigel and we can move forward again together.”
At times it was easy to see why Serbia are heading to the World Cup for the first time as an independent state.
They did look like they had another gear and the one time they did up the pace the only goal of the game arrived.
Although Northern Ireland played reasonably well, there is definitely more in the team and in the blood and thunder that competitive games bring, it would have been different had something been riding on the outcome.
“I've said before that the future looks bright for us,” said Hughes.
“There is a long way to go between now and the next qualifiers, we'll have a few more games to try other things out.
“We'll be alright, we know what we can do what when we put our minds to it.
“There were spells in the game when we passed the ball well, created a few chances, but unfortunately couldn't get the goal.
“Overall it wasn't a bad performance.”
Maik Taylor, the regular stand-in skipper when Hughes hasn't been available, is singing from the same hymn sheet as the captain.
“I've gone on record before and I am sure I echo the rest of the lads when I say that I hope something can be sorted out because it's there for everyone to see the strides that have been made,” said Taylor.
“It would be positive step if things can be sorted out soon and we can go on building towards the next campaign.
“We now have a wonderful balance of young players and experience.
“That is going to be vital when it comes to making another push to qualify for a major tournament.
“We have gone close twice now but I still think there is more to come from this group of players.
“Niall McGinn has shown in the last two games that he is getting stronger at this level and I’m sure he will only get better between now and next September which will be good for all of us.”
