UK Edition
Josh Magennis strikes late to make it two from two for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland 2 Belarus 1
Josh Magennis’s late goal saw Northern Ireland make it two wins out of two in Euro 2020 qualifying with victory over Belarus. The second-half substitute struck with three minutes left at Windsor Park after Igor Stasevich’s deflected shot in the first half had cancelled out Jonny Evans’s header.
Magennis’s goal could be of huge importance to Northern Ireland, who had identified their opening home games against Estonia and Belarus as must-win ones.
After a slow and scrappy start, Paddy McNair produced Northern Ireland’s first chance after 20 minutes, turning his man and cutting inside before hitting a rising shot which Andrei Klimovich clawed to safety. Just before the half-hour, Kyle Lafferty hit an optimistic raking shot from distance but, after it bounced awkwardly for Klimovich, Northern Ireland would make the resulting corner pay.
They took it short, with Niall McGinn’s cross flicked on by Steven Davis for an unmarked Evans to head home. The celebrations lasted less than three minutes before Belarus hit back. As defenders stood off, Stasevich hit a shot from the edge of the area which deflected off Stuart Dallas to loop up and over Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Northern Ireland sought a response. Jordan Jones, having done well to keep in an overhit pass, played a dangerous ball in but Lafferty stood flat-footed as it whistled across the face of goal.
Lafferty’s blushes were spared by the assistant’s flag four minutes into the second half, when he should have nudged home McNair’s cross.
Northern Ireland continued to build pressure, forcing Belarus further and further back. Lafferty tried a looping shot with his back to goal, but could not keep it down before Dallas surged into the box but saw his low cross – looking for Lafferty – cut out for a corner.
Lafferty spurned another chance in the 77th minute as Jamal Lewis’s cross seemed to skim off the top of his head with the goal gaping.
It would prove his last involvement as he was replaced by Liam Boyce. O’Neill also threw on Shane Ferguson with five minutes to go, with Northern Ireland continuing to pour forward. They got their reward three minutes from time with one of the best moves of the game.
Magennis started it by bringing down a long ball and spreading it wide for Dallas, who fed McNair. His low cross was perfectly placed for Magennis to turn it home.
Peacock-Farrell was required to make a close-range save from Pavel Nekhaychik, but Northern Ireland hung on for victory.
Match details
Northern Ireland (4-3-3): Peacock-Farrell (Leeds); Dallas (Leeds), Cathcart (Watford), Jonny Evans (Leicester), Lewis (Norwich); McNair (Middlesbrough), Davis (Rangers), Saville (Middlesbrough); McGinn (Aberdeen), Lafferty (Rangers), Jones (Kilmarnock).
Subs: Magennis (Bolton) for McGinn 68, Boyce (Burton) for Lafferty 79, Ferguson (Millwall) for Jones 85.
Belarus (4-3-3): Klimovich (Shakhtyor Soligorsk); Shitov (Dinamo Minsk), Sivakov (Orenburg), Martynovich (Krasnodar), Valadzko (Arsenal Tula); Maewski (Astana), Hleb (BATE Borisov), Dragun (BATE Borisov); Savitskiy (Dinamo Brest), Laptev (Dinamo Brest), Stasevich (BATE Borisov).
Subs: Putsila (Altay) for Hleb 66, Polyakov (Ural Yekaterinburg) for Shitov 73, Nekhaychik (Dinamo Brest) for Savitskiy 85.
Booked: Laptev.
Referee: Pawel Raczkowski (Poland).