Northern Ireland collapse in face of Nedelev’s double
A bad week for Northern Ireland got worse last night as two crisp Todor Nedelev strikes saw Bulgaria come from behind to win in Sofia.
Conor Washington’s sixth international goal had given Ian Baraclough’s side a half-time lead as they looked to have responded well to Saturday’s controversial 2-0 defeat in Switzerland, which effectively ended their World Cup qualifying hopes, but it all went wrong after the break.
Bulgarian manager Yasen Petrov shuffled his pack at half-time and got the rewards, although Nedelev took the credit as he beat Bailey Peacock-farrell twice in 11 minutes to turn it around just after the hour.
It made for more frustration for Baraclough, who had finally built some positive momentum last month but has seen things unravel quickly in the last week, the Qatar dream now definitively dead. “It was a game we dominated. If you talk about a team being clinical, they are an example,” said Baraclough.
The breakthrough came 10 minutes before the break as Washington poked home when the goalkeeper pushed Josh Magennis’s header in his direction, although Northern Ireland had to wait through a long Var check before celebrating.
But Petrov sent on Ilian Iliev at the break, getting quick rewards as Northern Ireland struggled to deal with a revitalised Bulgaria. The equaliser came in the 53rd minute as Iliev’s cross was deflected into the path of Nedelev, who got clear of Ferguson to fire a low shot home.
Nedelev’s second was even better as Ivaylo Chochev laid off a curling cross from Kiril Despedov and he bent a shot into the top-right corner of Peacock-farrell’s net.
Bulgaria (4-3-1-2) Karadzhov; Turitsov, P Hristov, A Hristov, Velkovski; Tsonev (Iliev h-t), Chochev, Nedelev (Yankov 73); Tsonev (Malinov 73); Iliev (Krastev 80), Despodov. Subs Lukov, Karagaren, Delev, Kirilov, Vitanov, Vutsov, Bozhikov. Booked Malinov.
Northern Ireland (5-3-2) Peacock-farrell; Bradley (Jones 68), Ballard (Mcginn 82), Cathcart, Flanagan, Ferguson; Mcnair, Davis, Thompson; Washington (Charles 82), Magennis (Dallas 67). Subs Hazard, Winchester, Mccalmont, Hughes. Booked Ballard.
Referee Aleksey Kulbakov (Belarus).