Late Dallas goal flatters Northern Ireland

Azerbaijan 0 Northern Ireland Dallas 90

Stuart Dallas’s stoppage-time strike earned Northern Ireland a smash-andgrab success over Azerbaijan that kept them firmly on the road to Russia.

Missing eight players from the squad they took to France for Euro 2016, and without Gareth McAuley for the final 65 minutes due to a first-half injury, Michael O’Neill’s side struggled in the Baku heat and were thankful to the profligacy of Afran Ismayilov.

And they secured an unlikely victory when Dallas rifled in a late winner, his first goal in a competitive international, having been teed up by Jonny Evans.

“This was the most difficult game that we could have had on the 10th of June in Baku because of the conditions and with the players’ seasons being finished,” said O’Neill.

“I think the spirit was everything tonight. Three, four years ago we would have lost this game 1-0 and people would not be surprised by that.”

Dallas’s attempt was just the second on target that O’Neill’s side had mustered and moments earlier he had replaced substitute Niall McGinn with full-back Lee Hodson, seemingly to settle for a 0-0 stalemate.

But late goals have become a hallmark of this team in recent years and Dallas’s winner keeps Northern Ireland in second place ahead of their September double-header with San Marino and the Czech Republic.

The Azeris had been shell-shocked by the Northern Irish tactics in a 4-0 Belfast loss back in November, conceding three times from dead-ball situations, and the first arrived here in just the third minute.

Evans glanced it over and after some nervy moments at the start, Robert Prosinecki’s defence settled into a more composed unit.

There was a sense of disbelief when Dallas scored. He owed much to Ev- ans’s decision to square it to him rather than shooting, and the Leeds man steadied himself before firing into the corner to spark jubilant scenes among the 300 or so fans.