Northern Ireland produced an exquisite display of attacking football as they demolished Bulgaria tonight.
An Isaac Price hat-trick, an own goal and a strike from substitute Josh Magennis secured an excellent 5-0 win.
Bulgaria outmuscled Northern Ireland when they defeated them 1-0 in Plovdiv last month, however this time they were over-run by Michael O’Neill’s team.
Not surprisingly the 17,891 fans inside the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park - minus around 200 Bulgarian supporters - were bouncing as Northern Ireland turned on the style in the UEFA Nations League encounter.
The victory, coupled with Belarus and Luxembourg drawing one apiece in Hungary tonight, means Northern Ireland now top UNL League C Group 3 on seven points from four games.
For tonight’s game Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill made three changes from the team that started the 0-0 draw against Belarus in Hungary at the weekend.
Brodie Spencer, Alistair McCann and Dion Charles came in for Jamal Lewis, George Saville and Jamie Reid, while Pierce Charles continued in nets after making his debut against the Belarusians.
Conor Bradley donned the captain’s armband for the first time in Hungary and was also skipper tonight.
Northern Ireland showed intensity from the start. Shea Charles delivered a free-kick into the six-yard box early on but his cross was collected by Bulgarian keeper Dimitar Mitov.
On 15 minutes Northern Ireland opened the scoring. Eoin Toal’s header was flicked on by Brodie Spencer to Dion Charles, who tussled for the ball down the left with Bulgaria defender Zhivko Atanasov. Charles managed to nick the ball away from him before expertly clipping it across goal with the outside of his foot to Isaac Price and he slotted it home from nine yards.
Seven minutes later Dion Charles got away from his marker again inside the area and fired in a low shot which was turned away by a defender for a corner.
Northern Ireland continued to press. Callum Marshall fired a shot in from an angle which went inches past the upright.
On 29 minutes Price got his second of the game. A sweeping move began with goalkeeper Pierce Charles playing the ball out to his brother Shea. He in turn sprayed a lovely pass to Spencer down the left. Spencer slipped the ball back to Dion Charles at the bye-line.
Dion Charles appeared to be hauled down inside the penalty area but the ball ran through to Price and his deflected shot from 12 yards nestled in the back of the net.
Three minutes later it was 3-0 to Northern Ireland. Price found Spencer down the left about 40 yards out and he cut inside, strode forward and unleashed a powerful low drive from 25 yards which hit the inside of the post and hit Mitov’s trailing leg before bouncing across the line. Spencer thought he had his first senior international goal, but it was ruled to be an own goal by the keeper.
As half-time approached Bulgaria were awarded a penalty. Captain Kiril Despodov whipped a dangerous free-kick into the area. Toal was adjudged to have grabbed and pushed Martin Minchev and the central defender got a yellow card after the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
Despodov stepped up to take the penalty and missed it. He smashed the ball against the underside of the bar.
Just after the break Martin Minchev steered an effort wide as the visitors tried to haul themselves back into the game.
On 53 minutes Dion Charles scooped an effort wide of the post. Then Spencer flicked on a Marshall corner which flew across the six-yard box.
Northern Ireland had the ball in the net on 68 minutes but the ‘goal’ was ruled out for offside. A superb long ball from Pierce Charles found Bradley and he raced forward before clipping the ball over the keeper.
It was cleared off the line by Bulgaria substitute Valentin Antov and his clearance was met by Dion Charles who tucked the ball into the net. However, Bradley was adjudged to have been offside when he received the ball from Charles just yards beyond the half-way line.
Price grabbed his hat-trick in the 81st minute. Shea Charles broke up a Bulgaria attack and eventually slipped the ball to Price 22 yards out and he blasted the ball into the top corner. It was a superb finish.
On 88 minutes two substitutes combined to make it 5-0. Paul Smyth picked up a loose ball and sped towards goal before pulling the ball back to Josh Magennis and he smashed it home from 12 yards off the underside of the bar. It was another excellent finish.
Northern Ireland’s latest UNL campaign will draw to a close next month with a home game against Belarus and an away fixture against Luxembourg. And if they win those games they are guaranteed to top the group and gain promotion to League B for the next edition of the Nations League.
Northern Ireland: Pierce Charles, Trai Hume, Brodie Spencer, Paddy McNair, Eoin Toal, Alistair McCann, Conor Bradley (captain), Callum Marshall, Dion Charles, Shea Charles, Isaac Price.
Substitutes: (used) Ciaron Brown, Jamie Reid, Paul Smyth, Josh Magennis, Brad Lyons; (unused) Luke Southwood, Christy Pym, Jamal Lewis, George Saville, Lee Bonis, Jordan Thompson, Caolan Boyd-Munce.
Bulgaria: Dimitar Mitov, Viktor Popov, Hristiyan Petrov, Simeon Petrov, Zhivko Atanasov, Serkan Yusein, Georgi Kostadinov, Radoslav Kirilov, Filip Krastev, Kiril Despodov (captain), Martin Minchev.
Substitutes: (used) Valentin Antov, Zdravko Dimitrov, Georgi Minchev, Ivalyo Chochev, Ilian Iliev; (unused) Svetoslav Vutsov (GK), Ivan Dyulgerov (GK), Ivan Minchev, Stanislav Ivanov, Angel Lyaskov, Vasil Panayotov, Ivan Turitsov.
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