Taylor keeps Ukraine at bay

Group Six Ukraine 0 Northern Ireland 0Maik Taylor kept his fifth successive clean sheet for country and club on Saturday with a superb show in this European Championship qualifier. The Birmingham goalkeeper frustrated Ukraine time and again as Northern Ireland found themselves under siege late on.

This was a gritty performance by Sammy McIlroy's young side, who secured only their second point in Group Six. On the downside they have now gone 1,062 minutes without scoring.

The home side were the first to show and Andriy Vorobey made space down the right, only for Danny Griffin to divert his cross to safety. Northern Ireland were again forced on the back foot after 13 minutes when Sergei Rebrov cut into the penalty area. It was a dangerous situation but Aaron Hughes got in a timely challenge.

Northern Ireland came within inches of going behind a minute before half time when a shot from Voronin rattled the post.

Taylor showed good reflexes in the 50th minute to make a save from Antoliy Tymoschuk and after 59 minutes he made a marvellous save from Vorobey. Northern Ireland found themselves under siege in the closing stages with Oleksandr Melaschenko and Voronin sending shots over from inside the area.

McIlroy could not hide his delight afterwards: "You can see these young boys are playing for the shirt and their country. The passion and the commitment was first class. I am so proud of them.

"We kept our shape and discipline when Ukraine put us under pressure near the end of the match. They were limited in the end to long-range shots because we were doing such a good job. We can build on this performance and I can see bigger and better things for Northern Ireland."

UKRAINE: Shovkovsky, Luzhny, Federov, Tymoschuk, Nesmachny, Horshkov, Rebrov (Melaschenko 73), Husin (Gusev 17), Zubov, Voronin, Vorobey. Subs Not Used: Reva, Shevcuk, Dmytrulin, Serebrennikov, Guy.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Baird, Aaron Hughes, McCartney, Kennedy, Gillespie, Johnson, Doherty (Mulryne 67), Griffin, Michael Hughes (Jones 81), Healy (Andrew Smith 62). Subs Not Used: Morris, McCann, McVeigh, Hamilton.

Referee: W Stark (Germany).