GREECE 0 NORTHERN IRELAND 2 Northern Ireland produced a heroic performance to defeat Greece and begin a qualifying campaign with three successive wins for the first time. Beating the top seeds keeps Northern Ireland two points clear at the top of Group F, ahead of Romania, whom they meet in Bucharest on 14 November. Jamie Wards shot deflected off Loukas Vyntra to put the visitors ahead. And, after half-time, Kyle Lafferty ran clear and fired home a low shot from the edge of the area to seal victory. It was a sublime finish from the Norwich City striker, who has now scored in each of the opening three qualifiers against Hungary, the Faroe Islands and Greece to take his tally of international goals to 12. Northern Ireland began brightly as they attempted to extend their 100% record and Wards ninth-minute opener was just reward for their endeavour. Greece, who had garnered only one point from their opening two matches, began to enjoy more possession, but a poor final ball let them down on too many occasions. Nikos Karelis threatened in the 33rd minute as he burst through on goal and lifted the ball over advancing goalkeeper Roy Carroll, but his effort went well wide of the post. Just before the interval, Lafferty latched onto an incisive Chris Baird pass, ran down the left wing and powered past a defender, before unleashing a fierce shot which cannoned off the underside of the bar. The big forward made no mistake six minutes after the break as the visitors executed a fine breakaway goal, which secured only their second ever success over Greece, the previous triumph coming in a World Cup qualifier in October 1961. The struggling hosts, European Championship winners in 2004, carved out only one notable chance in the second half, but Panagiotis Tachtsidis saw his curling left-foot shot pushed round the post by former Olympiakos keeper Carroll. The result leaves Greece manager Claudio Ranieri still looking for the first win of his tenure as his side struggle to find the form which reflects their world ranking of 14 and saw them reach the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil. Northern Ireland had lost four of their last five fixtures against Greece, but Michael ONeills side now head to Romania with plenty of confidence and momentum as they seek to qualify for a European Championship for the first time and for their first tournament since the 1986 World Cup finals. LINEUP, BOOKINGS (4) & SUBSTITUTIONS (6) Greece 01 Karnezis 11 Vyntra (Stafylidis - 16 ) 04 Manolas 19 Papastathopoulos 15 Torosidis 18 Karelis 23 Tachtsidis 02 Maniatis Booked 07 Samaras Booked (Salpingidis - 67 ) 17 Athanasiadis (Samaris - 45 Booked ) 09 Mitroglou Substitutes 03 Stafylidis 05 Moras 06 Tziolis 08 Mantalos 10 Fortounis 12 Glykos 13 Kapino 14 Salpingidis 16 Mavrias 20 Giannoulis 21 Skondras 22 Samaris Northern Ireland 01 Carroll 02 McLaughlin 04 McAuley 18 Hughes 11 Ferguson (Reeves - 78 ) 06 Baird 13 Evans 08 Davis 16 Norwood 19 Ward (McGivern - 59 ) 10 Lafferty Booked (Magennis - 73 ) Substitutes 03 McGivern 05 McCullough 07 McGinn 09 McKay 12 Mannus 14 Clingan 15 McCourt 17 Grigg 20 McLaughlin 21 Magennis 22 Reeves 23 McGovern Ref: Stéphane Lannoy Just now · Like
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 21:20:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015