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O'Neill's Windsor woe

GROUP F Northern Ireland 1 Luxembourg 1: NORTHERN IRELAND had to accept a demoralising home draw against Luxembourg after a …

Wed Sept 12 2012 - 01:00

GROUP F Northern Ireland 1 Luxembourg 1:NORTHERN IRELAND had to accept a demoralising home draw against Luxembourg after a match they dominated ended with the visitors scoring a heavily-deflected equaliser in the 86th minute at Windsor Park.

The evening had started so promisingly for Michael O’Neill’s side, with Rangers’ Dean Shiels claiming his first international goal with a deft finish in the 14th minute. The hosts had nearly all of the meaningful chances thereafter, with three efforts disallowed by the officials and Chris Brunt hitting the post, only for Daniel Da Mota’s shot to squirm home via Ryan McGivern’s shoulder with four minutes to go.

Coming on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Russia, Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying hopes are already hanging by a thread.

The home side started with real purpose, almost scoring in the first minute, the chance came from a corner, won after good interplay between Kyle Lafferty and Shiels.

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Brunt floated it to West Brom team-mate Gareth McAuley who, after winning the header, directed the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

A loose pass from McGivern gifted Aurelien Joachim space to shoot, only for Jonny Evans to make the block.

Then Northern Ireland took the lead through Shiels. Somewhat surprisingly Evans played the role of creator, surging upfield and exchanging neat passes with the Rangers man. Evans’s second pass cut open the defence and Shiels lifted his shot deftly over the oncoming Jonathan Joubert.

Luxembourg’s goal came four minutes from time as they surged up the pitch and a shooting chance opened up for Da Mota. His effort looked to be heading wide until it took a deflection off McGivern to leave Roy Carroll stranded.

The Luxembourg bench celebrated emphatically, leaving the home fans to boo their players off at the final whistle.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Carroll, McGivern, McAuley, J Evans, Baird, Davis, Lafferty, Brunt, Hughes, Shiels (Norwood 83), Ferguson (Ward). Booked: McAuley, Lafferty, Brunt.

LUXEMBOURG: Joubert, Blaise, Schnell, Bettmer (Hoffmann 90), Da Mota, Payal, Joachim (Deville 46), Bukvic, Mutsch, Janisch, Gerson (Philipps 50). Booked: Bettmer, Deville.

Referee: Vlado Glodovic(Serbia).