Northern Ireland are still without a Nations League victory after their campaign began with another poor result as Ian Baraclough’s side were beaten 1-0 at home by Greece.
Despite the best efforts of another sell-out crowd at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland were too flat for too long, only raising their game when two 34-year-olds – Kyle Lafferty and Niall McGinn – came off the bench to chase a result in the final half an hour.
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But they could find no answer to Tasos Bakasetas’ 39th-minute strike for the visitors as Gus Poyet took victory in his first competitive game in charge of Greece.
It means Northern Ireland are still without a win after 11 attempts in the Nations League, while Baraclough has only one victory in the same number of fixtures at Windsor Park in all competitions.
On Wednesday the manager had set his side a points target of 12 for their four fixtures this month, but this is a result that leaves Northern Ireland already facing an uphill task in their goal of promotion out of League C.
Baraclough’s predecessor Michael O’Neill was in the stands to watch his first Northern Ireland match in person since leaving for Stoke, no doubt hoping for a repeat of those famous nights when his side beat Greece home and away on their way to Euro 2016, but this was very different fare.
💚 Great to see two former managers in the crowd and backing the team tonight #GAWA #NorthernIreland pic.twitter.com/WrQlcBpv10
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) June 2, 2022
A flat first half was largely passing without incident until Greece made the breakthrough six minutes before the interval.
Paddy Lane, making his competitive debut, was unable to cut out a long ball forward and Dimitrios Limnios played it inside for Bakasetas to hit a low drive beyond Bailey Peacock-Farrell into the corner.
Greece had been trying that ball forward since the start, but more often than not…
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