Novak sitter lets O’neill’s men off hook in Prague

Northern Ireland took a point from their opening World Cup qualifier as Filip Novak’s stunning miss let Michael O’neill’s side snatch a 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic.

Two years on from a victory in Hungary which kickstarted their run to the Euro 2016 finals, the feelgood buzz accrued from featuring in France this summer evaporated somewhat with a stalemate against the equally underwhelming Czechs.

Manager O’neill may be satisfied with a share of the spoils, a return they only got due to Novak’s mystifying second-half closerange blunder, but the manner of performance suggested there is plenty to do if they are to reach Russia in 2018.

The presence of world champions Germany in their group had both teams stressing before the match that their realistic aim was to snaffle the group’s playoff berth, and a below-par contest indicated a fear over an opening loss.

The best chance of the match fell to Novak after the break but, unmarked seven yards from goal, the full-back somehow smashed his left-footed attempt wide to absolute disbelief around the Generali Arena.

Northern Ireland will have been delighted with a fifth clean sheet in eight matches but they had little luck in front of goal either. They pushed for a winner late on but Stuart Dallas couldn’t quite find substitute Josh Magennis, and Steven Davis didn’t manage to get an attempt away when inside the box.