Austria U18s completed a friendly double success over Gerard Lyttle's Northern Ireland U18s at Stangmore Park this evening.
Just like the first game at the same venue on Tuesday, the Austrians ran out 2-0 victors, courtesy of first half goals from Diego Madritsch and Stefan Kordic.
Northern Ireland did have their moments with striker Sam Glenfield striking the crossbar in the first half and Aston Villa's Omari Kellyman repeating the trick in the second.
Despite the defeat it was another night of positives for Northern Ireland, both individually and collectively, with Celtic goalkeeper Kai McLean pulling off a number of good saves in the second half.
Result
Northern Ireland U18 0
Austria U18 2
Scorers
Northern Ireland
Austria: Diego Madritsch (36') Stefan Kordic (45+1')
Venue
Stangmore Park, Dungannon
Team news
Both teams made wholesale changes from the first game on Tuesday evening with Gerard Lyttle fielding eight new faces, while Austria made 10.
As it happened
Austria dominated the first half but it was the hosts who had the first real threat when striker Glenfield shaved the crossbar from 25 yards following a mistake in the Austrian defence.
McLean then tipped over a rasping volley from Florian Micheler following a Mario Pejazic corner kick.
Shortly afterwards the ball was cleared off the line after an in-swinging Pejazic free-kick came off the inside of McLean's near post.
Pejazic was a central figure for the Austrians and, after he had tested McLean from distance, it was his corner kick from the right that was turned in by Diego Madritsch on 36 minutes to open the scoring.
The Austrians struck again in the first minute of additional time. A backtracking Luca Doherty sent raiding right back Luca Pazourek sprawling in the box and Kordic, who also scored in the first game, tucked the resultant penalty low inside McLean's left post.
Like the opening half, it was Northern Ireland who threatened first in the second when Glenfield had a 20-yard shot saved by replacement goalkeeper Valentin Oelz after a driving run by Cliftonville's Sean Moore down the left flank.
Gerard Lyttle's team went even closer moments later when Kellyman cannoned an effort off Oelz's crossbar with sub Rio Morgan following up to volley over.
Back at the other end McLean produced a superb double save to deny replacements Tim Trummer and Kevin Lebersorger before thwarting Florian Micheler who had dashed in from the left flank.
Late on Northern Ireland sub Corey Smith headed a Morgan free-kick straight into the arms of a grateful Oelz.
Reaction
Northern Ireland manager Gerard Lyttle said: “Over the two games I was really pleased with the level of performance of the boys. I thought they put in a big shift in both games. The players took the information on board over a short period of time and they performed.
“We always ask the boys for a Northern Ireland performance; a bit of pride, a bit of passion and we got that as well. The boys enjoyed themselves and worked really hard. Austria are a top team. They gave us a really good test but we are disappointed to concede from a corner and then the penalty. We hit the crossbar twice and on another night we could have come away with a win.”
Teams
Northern Ireland: Kai McLean, Daithi McCallion, Gallagher Lennon (Caolan Donnelly 87'), Odhran McCart, Luca Doherty (Rio Morgan 58'), Omari Kellyman (Corey Smith 87'), Sean Moore, Phoenix Scholtz (Conor Barr 58'), Sam Glenfield, Eoin Kenny (Reece Evans 58'), Ryan Donnelly.
Subs not used: Pierce Charles, Reece Jordan, Darragh McCloskey, Sean Brown, Lewis Trickett, Jack Patterson.
Austria: Benjamin Goschl (Valentin Oelz 46'), Tobias Gruber, Mucahit Ibrahimoglu (Fabian Jankovic 81'), Stefan Kordic (Alparslan Baran 67'), Diego Madritsch (Zeteny Jano 81'), Florian Micheler, Marcel Moswitzer (Adrian Jordi Koreimann 87'), Moritz Neumann (Tim Trummer 67'), Luca Pazourek, Mario Pejazic, Furkan Dursun (Kevin Lebersorger 67').
Subs not used: Kenan Jusic, Matteo Schablas, Benedict Scharner, Jakob Maximilian Scholler.
Referee: David Gallagher
