At a glance
For contentious and controversial incidents. The technology is there. Why not use it like tennis and rugby? Using TV evidence would have reversed the match defining decision within seconds.
Last night Northern Ireland paid the penalty for Hategan’s misjudgement. We won’t know until Sunday night but his call just before the hour could see Northern Ireland miss out on a place in next year’s World Cup finals.
What a crying shame that would be. For O’Neill, his players, the Green and White Army and for football in general which has fallen behind other sports in the way of the modern world.
For most of the first leg Switzerland were slick and created numerous openings but they failed to put them away until they were presented with that penalty.
Going to Basel for the second leg at 0-0, O’Neill would have fancied his chances having not conceded an away goal.
Now trailing 1-0, Northern Ireland have a mountain to climb. Heading to Switzerland on a chartered flight tonight, captain Steven Davis and co will know that making it to Russia from here will be akin to scaling the Alps in bare feet.
But don’t give up on these boys. They are still in there fighting and the injustice at Windsor will drive them on to hopefully even greater heights than they have reached in recent years.
They are still in this tie and have the character to come through it even if the Swiss left the stadium as massive favourites to progress.
LAST NIGHT’S RESULTS
World Cup Play-Offs
Croatia 4 Greece 1 Northern Ireland 0 Switzerland 1
Friendly
Scotland 0 Netherlands 1
TONIGHT’S FIXTURES Danske Bank Premiership (7.45pm)
Ballymena United v Linfield
World Cup Play-Offs (7.45pm)
Sweden v Italy
Friendlies (8pm)
England v Germany
France v Wales
SkyBet League Two (7.45pm)
Newport County v Port Vale
The inspirational Davis, who won his 100th cap, Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans and the rest will need the game of their livesattheweekend.
There have been big nights at Windsor before when Northern Ireland qualified for the 1958, 1982 and 1986 World Cups and of course the Euro 2016 finals, but surely none as big as last night’s with what was at stake.
TheWorldCupisamuch greater beast than it was back in the 1950s and 1980s in terms of global reach, profile, finance and hype.
O’Neill and his players knew the golden ticket that awaited them and so did the supporters who created an atmosphere to remember well before kick-off.
Around 16,000 shiny green and white flags were waved in unison in the stands. It was a feast for the eyes to add to the sweet music to the ears as the fans roared loud and proud in anticipation of an epic evening.
By the end of a compelling 90 minutes, their night had been ruined by a Romanian referee!