Northern Ireland made a stunning start to their Nations League match against Ukraine in Slovakia, scoring twice inside the opening exchanges and leaving Ukraine to chase the game.
Ciaron Brown fired Northern Ireland ahead, and Isaac Price doubled the lead with a powerful header from Kieran Morrison’s pin-point cross. Morrison, in his first competitive start for Northern Ireland, whipped a beautiful ball into the box and Price beat his marker Illia Zabarnyi before heading home.
Former Northern Ireland defender John O’Neill described it as a good finish, praising Morrison for putting the cross right on Price’s head. “Three attacks and two goals,” he said. “Ukraine what a mess in defence.”
Stephen Craigan, another former Northern Ireland defender, said the move could be traced back to Northern Ireland winning the ball in their own half. “Direct football, give it to me all day long,” he said. “That’s great football and a brilliant header.”
Andy Gray of BBC Sport NI said the key was the ball and vision from Shea Charles to play in Brodie Spencer, with the cross right on the money for Price. The second goal followed lovely build-up play from Spencer and Shea Charles.
Ukraine, meanwhile, had plenty of possession in the last 10 minutes and pushed forward, but Northern Ireland looked solid in defence and closed them down quickly. Pierce Charles was called into action for the first time to gather Georgiy Sudakov’s effort after he had taken on Brodie Spencer and fired towards goal.
Eduard Sarapii’s effort from range looked destined to make it a 1-2 game, but Pierce Charles palmed the shot away. Illia Zabarnyi’s cross into the box somehow missed everyone in a blue shirt, a huge let-off for Northern Ireland.
Before the match, Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said his side were in “good shape” ahead of the Nations League match against Ukraine in Slovakia. O’Neill’s side beat Georgia 1-0 in their opening match thanks to Shea Charles’ last-gasp winner and held Hungary to a goalless draw in Belfast on Monday.
Despite looking tired in the closing stages of Monday’s draw, which came after a 5000-mile round trip to Tbilisi, O’Neill said his squad was healthy and ready to go for the third game of the quadruple-header. “We’re pleased with where we’re at this minute in time. The boys have done extremely well in the games,” he said. “They’ve recovered extremely well, which is a bonus. I think younger players obviously recover a little bit quicker than older players as well, so we’re in good shape to play again.”
O’Neill conceded that Ukraine, who won 1-0 in Hungary before a goalless draw with Georgia, are favourites to win on Friday but added his side “thrive” on the underdog tag. “I think they are favourites. They’re the home team, although obviously the game is not being played in Ukraine. They have a very good team,” he said. “I think they are a team that is probably a little bit further ahead in its development than we are. But we’re comfortable with not being favourites in the game.”
Striker Jamie Donley is one of six players at risk of suspension if they collect a second yellow card in the competition. Justin Devenny, Ciaron Brown and the now-injured Dan Ballard were booked in the opening win in Georgia, while Ethan Galbraith, Isaac Price, Donley and Shea Charles were cautioned in Monday’s goalless draw with Hungary.
Donley was booked for catching Mark Csinger with a stray arm but, despite the threat of a game on the sidelines should he pick up a second booking in the campaign, he doesn’t believe it will change how he approaches the game. “I will still try and play my same game style,” the 21-year-old said. “I will probably try and be a bit more cautious, but it’s not something that I’ll be thinking about.”
O’Neill said he was “disappointed” with some of the bookings his players had picked up, but that it would not impact his team selection for the third game of the quadruple-header. “I don’t worry about it because what will happen will happen,” O’Neill said. “It’s not like we’re in a World Cup play-off and someone’s on a booking and could miss the second leg, or whatever way you want to look at the scenarios. Here, I’ll ask the players to just play their normal game.”
Ukraine head coach Andrea Maldera has named his squad for the third-round Nations League match against Northern Ireland. Vitalii Mykolenko will miss the match due to injury.
Ukraine will play in blue, with the goalkeeper in green, while Northern Ireland will wear white. Mykolenko will not help the national team in matches against Northern Ireland and Hungary.
