Northern Ireland miss chances in frustrating stalemate with Belarus
Never previously victorious away from home in this competition, Northern Ireland briefly thought they had taken an early lead, when Conor Bradley played a ball back to the edge of the area, resulting in Isaac Price shifting it to Jamie Yates, who swung it back to the far post.
Fyodor Lapoukhov denied Jamie Reid’s header with a cat-like flying save, and though Bradley fired in from a narrow angle on the follow up, he was blatantly offside, meaning that the brief cheer was muted before the flag quickly went up.
Reid was again frustrated soon after that glimpse of glory, when he lost a 1-v-1 duel against Lapoukhov after picking up a long ball forward from Trai Hume, with the Belarusian dropping to block the shot when a goal looked inevitable.
Then it was Callum Marshall’s turn to be disappointed, as Bradley picked him out inside the box, but Lapoukhov was sharp enough to throw himself at it before the Huddersfield loanee could pick his spot. And five minutes before HT, Eoin Toal hit the post after heading a Shea Charles free-kick towards goal.
A winner in all three of his previous managerial engagements with Belarus, Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill had cut a frustrated figure.
He was frustrated for a different reason in the second half’s early minutes, with his men failing to exert the same degree of pressure after the break.
And after an attritional period, Belarus saw a penalty shout turned down as Toal appeared to have brought down Dmitry Antilevsky at first glance, though the contact was minimal and the acting oscar-worthy, ensuring that the scoreboard would remain untouched.
Just after the three-quarter mark, Northern Ireland got another real sight of goal, with Price picking up a sloppy attempted pass from Zakhar Volkov and charging forward. He laid the ball off for Bradley, but the Liverpool man was under too much pressure to get a clean shot away, skewing the ball several yards wide of the far post.
The anticipated changes from O’Neill didn’t make much difference either, with chances fizzling out all too quickly against a Belarus team previously beaten just twice in 10 prior UNL games faced as designated hosts.
Belarus held firm for a point they scarcely deserved on the evidence of the first half, with all three of their internationals played in Hungary seeing them fall short in the final third.
They sit exactly level with Bulgaria at the top of Group C3, while Northern Ireland will hope that the comforts of home can help them overcome the 1994 World Cup semi-finalists, after a disappointing end to what was only their second stalemate in 19 internationals.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Fyodor Lapoukhov (Belarus)
