Estonia end Northern Ireland's hopes

Northern Ireland 1 Estonia 2:A BANNER draped over the wall of a disused church on the Lisburn Road captured local irritation with Nigel Worthington succinctly. "Attack, attack, attack for feck's sake attack" it read. Worthington attempted to heed the call but could not salvage Northern Ireland's qualification hope or his standing among a disillusioned support.

Only victory in Belfast and an Italian triumph in Serbia would have maintained Northern Ireland’s lingering hope of taking their fight to the final game. But a dominant second-half performance from Estonia demolished that dream. Ahead through Steven Davis’s first-half goal and looking comfortable, Worthington’s team had no response to the pace and greater attacking intent shown by their visitors after the interval and two goals from the substitute Konstantin Vassiljev delivered a suitably depressing end to their home campaign.

Vassiljev equalised from the penalty spot with 15 minutes remaining after Craig Cathcart had pulled him down inside the area and then struck a magnificent winner from 30 yards after the German referee had correctly ignored his assistant’s flag for offside.

Professionally and personally Worthington needed the response to stem the negativity that has engulfed a campaign that promised so much 12 months ago but has raised only genuine concerns about Northern Ireland’s future since. The country has lost an experienced head with the retirement of Aaron Hughes, who was denied a Windsor Park farewell due to a groin injury. The present hopes have proved unreliable, with Jonny Evans again absent with an ankle problem.

As the chants of “Nigel, Nigel, time to go” during the 4-1 shambles in Estonia last month demonstrated, however, such fundamental problems lose weight against a results sequence of two wins in 22 matches before this encounter.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Camp, Hodson, Cathcart, McAuley, Baird, McCourt, Clingan (Evans 32), Davis, McCann (Healy 83), Brunt, Lafferty (Feeney 69). Subs not used: Taylor, McGivern, McGinn, Little. Booked: Lafferty, Camp, Cathcart, McAuley.

ESTONIA: Pareiko, Piiroja, Klavan, Jaager, Stepanov, Kruglov, Dmitrijev, Puri (Purje 57), Vunk, Kink (Vassiljev 65), Ahjupera (Zenjov 46). Subs not used: Londak, Reintam, Saag, Teniste. Booked: Zenjov.

Referee: Manuel Grafe (Germany).