"I'm really, really pleased - I know for definite that was a fantastic performance," said Shiels.

"We got our tactics bang on. It was important to get a look at as many players as I possibly could and it answered a few questions for me."

"We nullified them where we wanted to nullify them and got into good spaces and had good options - it was fantastic from us," he added.

"I'm delighted with how we played. Our possession of the ball was more productive than theirs in the first half and to see their jubilation in beating us just shows you how times have changed."

Lauren Wade hit a superb leveller for Northern Ireland late in the first half before Burns was sent off on 69 minutes for fouling Belgium captain Tessa Wullaert outside the area.

Belgium, who are 28 places above Northern Ireland in the world rankings, capitalised with three goals in the last eight minutes but it was an encouraging display in preparation for the Euros in England next month.

Northern Ireland will make their first appearance in a major tournament when they take on Norway at St Mary's on 7 July.

Shiels has advocated a rule change following the Burns red card as he prepares for the historic match in Southampton.

"If there was a [new] ruling in football it would be to not send people off in friendlies," he said following Northern Ireland's only Euros warm-up game.

"Because, even though they have to go by the book, it killed the game for them as well.

"It was a great finish from Lauren and we got good fitness from the game, especially when we had 10 players.

"I made substitutions that disharmonised the tactics of our game but I had to get people on the pitch and that stunted our performance.

"We weren't here to win a match - we were here to prepare for the Euros. There were some really good performances and it helps me in how we move forward and make the right selections for the tournament."