Michael O’Neill takes positives after Northern Ireland held in Belarus stalemate

Posted Sunday, October 13, 2024 by PA

Michael O’Neill picked out the positives after his Northern Ireland side were unable to capitalise on a string of chances in a goalless Nations League draw against Belarus in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.

Northern Ireland peppered Fedor Lapoukhov’s goal with shots in the opening 45 minutes, twice having goals ruled out and also seeing Eoin Toal’s header come back off the post and it ended up costing them the chance to go top of League C3.

But with two teenagers among six players in the starting XI aged 22 or under, this was a demonstration of the attacking possibilities in a still-developing side – as long as they can find the cutting edge to finish off the job.

“I’m frustrated with the result but I’m not frustrated with the performance,” O’Neill told the PA news agency. “We were very dominant in the first half, we created excellent chances with some very good passages of play and our transition through the pitch was excellent.

“But we didn’t take the chances and that’s a learning curve for us. The second half was always going to have a different feel, we weren’t going to have the same level and Belarus tightened up a bit and made it more difficult.

“We still managed to create chances, but we didn’t open them up as much as the first half. It was a decent performance, but the disappointing thing is the result.”

Northern Ireland had 12 attempts at goal in the first half, forcing Lapoukhov into seven saves, but there was a sense at the break that their best opportunity might have already gone.

Belarus did a better job of shutting down space in the second half and as legs on both sides began to tire, the attacking impetus faded.

“The second half maybe got a little bit edgy with the substitutions and the pitch was quite heavy and in the end cut up,” O’Neill said.

“Also some of our senior players like Paddy (McNair) and Jamal (Lewis) have played very little football, so it’s hard for them to maintain that level.

“I thought we had enough in the tank to win the game but we didn’t do that. It’s something of course you want in your make-up to be able to win games late on – I have to look beyond the result.

“People will talk about the result but the team is going in the right direction.”

This was arguably to most awkward of Northern Ireland’s away fixtures in this Nations League campaign, not so much in terms of the opposition – Belarus are, despite recent improvement, the lowest ranked team in the group – but because of the neutral venue and the game being behind closed doors.

In that context, this was a point gained even if it might have been all three.

“It’s a positive certainly, not something to be too negative about,” O’Neill added.

“When you see how the game played out, we’re disappointed not to take three points but we’ve got a home game now against Bulgaria and if we win that it will put us in a strong position.

“The key in any group is to come away from home and not be beaten, so we’ll take the positive of not being beaten tonight.”