Northern Ireland deserve credit for punching above their weight but now face a difficult playoff

The good, the bad and the uncertain: on a night when Northern Ireland were guaranteed a place in next month’s World Cup play-offs, they lost for only the third time in this campaign and now wait on who will be up next.

An Irish victory in Oslo would have almost certainly led to a seeded place in next Tuesday’s draw, making the possibility of a place in Russia that bit more likely.

But a chronic 71st minute own goal from West Brom’s Chris Brunt, caused by a mistake by goalkeeper Michael McGovern, means Michael O’Neill’s players will probably face seeded opposition.

The achievement of reaching the play-offs behind world champions Germany is still hugely admirable, but there will be a slight concern among followers that the campaign has ended with two defeats, the second of which against Norway bringing arguably the least convincing Irish display in Group C.

What O’Neill can say in mitigation is that the first of these was against Germany, while this loss was offset to a degree by the fact all six players on yellow cards came through without another. O’Neill said afterwards how important that those six came through “unscathed”.

Perhaps that explained a performance which was lacklustre by Irish standards. “At times we played some good football, at times we were a bit off it,” O’Neill conceded.

What must be remembered, however, is that aside from Brunt, the only players who have scored against McGovern in ten qualifiers were Germans. In all there were seven clean sheets and as O’Neill added: “This team’s been punching above its weight massively and for some time.”

Indeed it has. It says something about the job O’Neill has done and the resources at his disposal that Northern Ireland finished the game with three players from Millwall.

The Championship remains the division where O’Neill is most likely to find his players. George Saville has joined Conor McLaughlin and Shane Ferguson and five minutes from the end, the best Irish chance of the match fell to Saville. Unfortunately for him, he sent his ten-yard volley over.

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A 24 year-old Londoner who made a 10-minute debut as a substitute against Germany last Thursday, Saville qualifies for Northern Ireland via his Enniskillen grandmother.

O’Neill is careful when bringing in players born beyond the six counties available to him. He checks out a player’s character as well as his football ability, O’Neill does not want the tight, club-like atmosphere he has fostered to be disrupted.

But the manager also knows about a lack of options and Saville gives him one he did not have a month ago. That said, Saville plays for Millwall, not Chelsea where he was for a decade until 2014.

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Saville replaced Oliver Norwood, on loan at Fulham, at half-time. Up to then, in fact until Brunt’s own goal, the night could be described as pleasingly dull.

Northern Ireland were not forcing much in terms of attack, while Norway chugged their way through the first 45 minutes with two shots on target. McGovern coped comfortably with both.

But when a Stefan Johansen cross came over with 20 minutes left, McGovern began back-pedalling in panicky fashion. He flapped at the ball and it fell to Brunt who used his trusty left foot to belt the ball into the net. It was a comedy of errors, not helped by McGovern’s position at Norwich where he is a non-playing substitute every week.

“We can’t be greedy,” O’Neill said of the unseeded likelihood, “we’ll just have to deal with it. The players deserve enormous credit.”