DON’T PANIC, SAYS O’NEILL
Northern Ireland 1 Bosnia-herzegovina 2
Darren Fullerton MICHAEL O’NEILL insists Northern Ireland’s defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the UEFA Nations League is “far from a disaster”.
Despite bossing long periods, it was Robert Prosinecki’s men who got the new-look competition off to a winning start.
O’neill’s men conceded sloppy goals in either half from Haris Duljevic and Elvis Saric, before Will Grigg’s 93rd-minute effort teed up a grandstand finish.
“We’ve played a lot worse and won,” said O’neill.
“I’m delighted with the performance. It’s not a major setback and overall there were a lot more positives than negatives.
“The only thing we could have done better was maybe our final ball. We’ll look to react in Tuesday night’s friendly with Israel.”
Progressing
Defeat means it’s just one win in eight for Northern Ireland and the first time since 1995 the national team have lost three home competitive games on the bounce.
“There are many ways to carve up statistics,” insisted O’neill. “The other way to look at it is, we have lost six in 12 and one of those defeats was to Germany.
“We’re a team still progressing and going in the right direction.”
O’neill believes Northern Ireland should have been awarded an early penalty when George Saville was caught by Ervin Zukanovic.
“It was a foul,” he said. “The defender leaves his leg there and there is contact. I was disappointed the referee didn’t give it.”
Middlesbrough midfielder Saville added: “Looking at it back, it’s an easy decision. But we have to take our chances and paid the price.”
Bosnia midfielder Miralem Pjanic admitted the visitors had been “a little bit lucky” and added: “It was not easy against this team. They put us in difficult situations.”