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 opening group game to Bosnia.
Rarely will they dominate a match quite like this and fail to win. But a thoroughly impressive display was undermined by goals in either half from Haris Duljevic and Elvis Saric on a puzzling afternoon at Windsor Park.
If debutant goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell couldn’t be blamed for the first creeping through his legs, the second will have to go down as a blunder by the young Leeds No.1 who was guilty of indecision when Saric put the result beyond doubt.
Will Grigg finally found a way past Ibrahim Sehic from Northern Ireland’s 17th corner of the game (Bosnia only had one) in injury-time but it came too late.
While Michael O’Neill will be hugely encouraged by the level of performance, he will be mystified as to how his team failed to take a string of chances that leaves them facing a real battle to win promotion from Group B3 with their next two fixtures away in Austria and Bosnia.
It was hard to gauge the level of opposition against a new-look Bosnia team still developing under Robert Prosinecki, but the football played by Northern Ireland was as good as it has been in recent years.
They opened up the Bosnians time and again with fluent, incisive passing and clever movement in and around the box that could have brought several goals before half-time.
Indeed, Bosnia couldn’t get out of their own half in the first 20 minutes as they were penned in and put under almost constant pressure by a Northern Ireland team playing their first competitive game here since the controversial World Cup playoff defeat to Switzerland in November.
O’Neill’s side could arguably have had a penalty inside the opening two minutes when George Saville appeared to be tripped by Ervin Zukanovic but Czech referee Pavel Kralovec dismissed their appeals.
Niall McGinn was particularly lively down the right flank and had a shot beaten away in the 20th minute after Oliver Norwood had flashed an early freekick over the bar. Stuart Dallas also went close with a long-range effort and captain Steven Davis should have done better than fire over from 10 yards out.
It took Bosnia half an hour to test Peacock-Farrell whose first appearance ties him to Northern Ireland and ends any interest from England in the Leeds keeper.
Not surprisingly, it was a breakaway as Edin Dzeko swept a long pass out to the left for Edin Visca to chase. Bosnia’s No.8 held the ball up and picked out Dzeko’s run into the box, but Peacock-Farrell was equal to the former Manchester City striker’s first-time effort.
It was a warning of things to come, however, and one that Northern Ireland failed to heed. Six minutes later, Bosnia worked the ball down the same flank to Dzeko who steered a low cross into the six-yard box and into the path of Duljevic. Again the ball was met first-time but on this occasion it crept through Peacock-Farrell’s legs and over the line.
At that point of the match, Northern Ireland had enjoyed 65 per cent of possession and were ahead 6-0 on corners. It counted for little, however, when then scoreboard read 1-0 and they had been caught on the hop by a player of Dzeko’s calibre.
They could have equalised before the interval but another chance was wasted when Norwood swung an excellent cross onto the head of Kyle Lafferty but he couldn’t quite make a good enough connection and guided it off target.
It was Dallas’s turn within three minutes of the restart when he met a cross from the right just yards from goal, but again it wasn’t the best contact and Sehic was able to touch his scuffed effort onto the top of the bar.
The Bosnia keeper was called into action again in the 54th minute, making a fine reflex save from Lafferty at point-blank range after Jonny Evans had flicked on Norwood’s freekick from the left.
And Northern Ireland were hit with yet another sucker punch as Bosnia stole into a two-goal lead shortly afterwards. A throw-in level with the Northern Ireland box looked to have been dealt with as Craig Cathcart headed back towards his own goalkeeper. It was a little short and encouraged Saric to try to close down Peacock-Farrell. The 21-year-old could – probably should – have claimed it first but anticipated his opponent getting their first and spread his body to make the block.
Neither man made contact and the ball bounced through the keeper’s legs, leaving Saric with the simple task of scoring in an empty net.
Duljevic could have added a third when his curling effort beat Peacock-Farrell and clipped the outside of the post, but substitute Grigg hit back in injury-time.
Another Norther Ireland substitute, Liam Boyce, turned a corner back to the near post and Grigg pounced to score from close-range. The Wigan striker had another chance from corner No.18 in the dying moments but couldn’t quite get his foot to the ball.
