Northern Ireland had a frustrating goalless draw against Belarus in Hungary tonight.
Michael O’Neill’s side had the bulk of the chances in the UEFA Nations League encounter but could not find the net.
Northern Ireland, who had 61% possession in the game, had 15 attempts on goal compared to Belarus’ seven in the UNL League C Group 3 clash at the ZTE Arena in the city of Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary.
Senior men’s team manager Michael O’Neill gave a senior debut to goalkeeper Pierce Charles from the start. He was rarely called into action.
Belarus had the first chance of the game though. Dmitri Antilevski whipped a dangerous cross into the area to striker Evgeni Shikavka and his glancing header went just wide of the post.
Conor Bradley, donning the captain’s armband for the first time, fired home from close range on 10 minutes, however he was adjudged to have been offside when he blasted the ball into the net. Belarus keeper Fedor Lapoukhov produced an excellent stop from a powerful Jamie Reid header in the build-up.
Paddy McNair put a header wide before Isaac Price ran from deep and let fly, however the keeper comfortably stopped his low drive.
Jamie Reid broke the offside trap but his low shot lacked power and was comfortably pushed away by Lapoukhov.
Bradley then ran from deep and fed Callum Marshall. His first-time shot was palmed away by the Belarusian keeper. Jamal Lewis fired the loose ball goalwards and his blaster was pushed over the top by Lapoukhov.
George Saville played a lovely ball to Reid but the keeper was equal to his shot, while the keeper also saved a follow-up header from the striker.
On 39 minutes Shea Charles delivered a free-kick into the danger zone. Eoin Toal rose highest and was unlucky to see his header come back off the post.
Just after half-time Belarus attacker Antilevski launched a free-kick over the bar, while Northern Ireland striker Reid twisted and turned his marker inside the area but his low drive was blocked. Then Saville fired well over as Northern Ireland pushed forward.
After a scrappy period of play - the Belarus tactic in the second half was to disrupt Northern Ireland’s rhythm - Price broke forward and cleverly left the ball for Bradley just outside the area but his low shot drifted off target.
In the 76th minute striker Lee Bonis made his debut for Northern Ireland, replacing Reid.
Hume fired a cross towards him inside the area minutes later but the Belarus keeper plucked the ball out of the air as he handled well once again.
The game petered out after that with the two sides cancelling each other out.
It’s as you were in the group after Bulgaria drew 0-0 with Luxembourg at home earlier today. Bulgaria and Belarus are joint top on five points from three games, with Northern Ireland third on four points. Luxembourg have a single point to date.
Next up for Northern Ireland is a UNL C3 game against the Bulgarians at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park on Tuesday (7.45pm)
Belarus: Fedor Lapoukhov, Pavel Zabelin, Zakhar Volkov, Sergei Politevich (captain), Kirill Pechenin, Yuri Kovalev, Evgeni Yablonski, Max Ebong, Evgeni Shikavka, Dmitri Antilevski, Nikita Korzun.
Substitutes: (used) German Barkovski, Sergei Karpovich, Artem Kontsevoi, Vladislav Klimovich; (unused) Maksim Plotnikov (GK), Pavel Pavlyuchenko, Yegor Parkhomenko, Denis Polyakov, Valeri Bocharov, Valeri Gromyko, Vadim Pigas.
Northern Ireland: Pierce Charles, Trai Hume, Jamal Lewis, Paddy McNair, Eoin Toal, George Saville, Conor Bradley (captain), Callum Marshall, Jamie Reid, Shea Charles, Isaac Price.
Substitutes: (used) Dion Charles, Brodie Spencer, Lee Bonis, Paul Smyth, Alistair McCann; (unused) Luke Southwood, Christy Pym, Brad Lyons, Jordan Thompson, Caolan Boyd-Munce, Josh Magennis, Ciaron Brown.
Main image: Eoin Toal was unlucky not to score with this header.
Action from the ZTE Arena
