Draw nearly good as a win

Northern Ireland - 0 Spain - 0 Northern Ireland produced one of the most remarkable performances in recent international history last night.

Ranked 111th by FIFA and without a goal for 16 months, Sammy McIlroy's collection of part-timers and English lower division players drew with Spain, ranked joint second in the world with France, behind Brazil.

Spain were knocked off the top of Group Six in the process, with Greece defeating Ukraine in the other match.

Propelled forward by Bristol City's Tommy Doherty, winning only his second cap, Northern Ireland fought for every tackle and played as attractive football as the Spanish.

They, as expected, made several good openings, but it was the 75th minute before their best - a Fernando Morientes volley that hit Doherty on the chest as he guarded a post.

Prior to that, Preston's David Healy almost gave the Irish a fairytale victory; but, after the depression of recent times, the draw was almost as welcome.

The difference in the sides could be seen in the lone strikers each employed. The Irish had the 22-year-old Andy Smith from Belfast club, Glentoran. Spain had Raul.

And yet though Raul had three good chances in the first half and forced Fulham's Maik Taylor into an excellent reaction save with his right leg in the 33rd minute, Raul's Madrid team-mate Iker Casillas was equally busy in Spain's goal.

Doherty's first piece of fleet footwork came in the ninth minute, when he evaded the challenge of Sergio and curled the ball towards the top corner. Casillas managed a saving fingertip, and five minutes later made another save, this time from a George McCartney header after an inswinging free kick from Peter Kennedy.

Spain were anxious to get an early goal in the second period and Ruben Baraja raced forward only to steer a shot wide of the target.

Damien Johnson then picked up the first yellow card of the game after taking a swipe at Raul in front of referee Claus Bo Larsen.

Not conceding immediately after half-time was crucial to Irish hopes, and Vicente contributed to their well-being with a 56th-minute blast over the crossbar.

Sergio had a shot grabbed gratefully by Taylor soon after, but in the 64th minute David Healy was inches away from giving the Irish the lead.

Breaking away from Ivan Helguera, he exchanged a one-two with Smith, and was one-on-one with Casillas. The goalkeeper blocked the shot and Smith's effort from the rebound was cleared. It was so close.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Baird, McCartney, Aaron Hughes, Kennedy, Griffin, Johnson, Doherty (Toner 80), Jones (McVeigh 73), Healy, Andrew Smith (Williams 90). Subs Not Used: Carroll, McCann, Hamilton, Elliott. Booked: Johnson.

SPAIN: Casillas, Puyol, Marchena, Helguera, Juanfran, Etxeberria (De Pedro 79), Baraja, Sergio (Joaquin 65), Vicente (Morientes 65), Valeron, Raul. Subs Not Used: Salgado, Canizares, Bravo, Gabri. Booked: De Pedro.

Referee: Claus Bo-Larsen (Denmark).