O’Neill’s men do everything right except avoid defeat

AS IF UEFA’s new Nations League wasn’t confusing enough already, Northern Ireland now have to work out how they contrived to lose their group opener to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Rarely will they dominate a match quite like this and fail to win, never mind end up beaten.

Michael O’Neill’s side had 68 per cent of possession, 25 shots and 18 corners — the 17th of which led to Will Grigg scoring late on.

But a thoroughly impressive performance was undermined by goals in either half from Haris Duljevic and Elvis Saric on a puzzling afternoon at Windsor Park.

It leaves Northern Ireland facing a battle to win promotion from Group B3, with their next two fixtures away in Austria and Bosnia.

‘It’s a sore one,’ said O’Neill. ‘It’s a good lesson, because it shows the nature of international football and you do get punished.

‘In terms of how we played, the positivity of the team and how we pressed, it was exactly what we were looking for.’

Northern Ireland’s passing and movement were outstanding but the final ball was sometimes lacking and they were guilty of missing chances.

They were also denied a penalty early on when George Saville was tripped by Ervin Zukanovic.

In 36 minutes, Edin Dzeko guided a low cross to the edge of the six-yard box for Duljevic to score with a first-time finish.

Northern Ireland had numerous chances to equalise before they were hit with another sucker punch in the 64th minute.

A throw-in level with their box looked to have been dealt with as Craig Cathcart headed back towards Peacock-Farrell.

But it was short and allowed Saric to steal past the young Leeds keeper and score in an empty net.

Grigg finally found a way past Bosnia keeper Ibrahim Sehic from close range in the 92nd minute when another substitute, Liam Boyce, turned a corner back to the near post. The Wigan striker went agonisingly close to an equaliser in the dying seconds.

N IRELAND (4-2-3-1): Peacock-Farrell; McLaughlin (Boyce 70), J Evans, Cathcart, Lewis; McGinn (Ward 76), Norwood; Davis, Saville, Dallas; Lafferty (Grigg 69). Subs (not used): Carson, McGovern, Smith, Washington, Ferguson, C Evans, Jones, McNair, Whyte.

BOSNIA (4-3-3): Sehic; Besic, Sunjic, Zukanovic, Civic (Zakaric 76); Saric (Krunic 67), Cimirot, Pjanic (Bajic 83); Visca, Dzeko, Duljevic. Subs (not used): Kjosevski, Piric, Nastic, Prcic, Kodro-Maksumic, Milosevic. Booked: Civic, Pjanic, Dzeko.

Referee: P Kralovec (Czech Republic).