Northern Ireland weathered a first-half storm in Plovdiv only to gift Bulgaria the decisive goal as they fell to a 1-0 Nations League defeat.
Michael O’Neill’s side repelled attack after attack in a tough opening 40 minutes before a poor mistake from goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell allowed Bulgaria captain Kiril Despodov to grab the only goal of the night.
Northern Ireland improved considerably after the break but Bulgaria, draw specialists who began the night with only one win in their last 16, rarely looked troubled on a frustrating night for the Green and White Army.
O’Neill made only one change to the side that beat Luxembourg 2-0 at home on Thursday as Jamal Lewis stepped in for Callum Marshall and Trai Hume retained the captaincy.
But it was a very different first-half performance as Northern Ireland struggled in an intimidating atmosphere in the small but noisy Hristo Botev Stadium.
Read more:
- Scotland team news for Portugal away clash revealed
- Elliot Anderson confirms he won't represent Scotland at senior level
Bulgaria looked stronger and sharper, and O’Neill’s team struggled to get out of their own half on an awful pitch, which cut up badly in this recently renovated ground.
Bulgaria could not believe they had not scored only three minutes in. Peacock-Farrell saved Georgi Kostadinov’s glancing header from Despodov’s corner, but pushed it only as far as Aleksandar Kolev.
He put the ball back in and it struck Alex Petkov, bouncing goalwards before Ciaron Brown cleared it off the line, onto a post and into the hands of a grateful Peacock-Farrell.
The onslaught continued and after Shea Charles gave the ball away in midfield, the young midfielder chased back and did just enough to prevent Despodov from getting his shot on target.
Despodov then struck the outside of the left post with a free-kick from the edge of the area as Peacock-Farrell could only watch.
When Northern Ireland did get up the other end, Bulgaria broke quickly from Brown’s long throw, and a great ball over the top from Leeds midfielder Ilia Gruev put Kolev through on goal, only to hit a tame shot at Peacock-Farrell.
Northern Ireland had a chance out of nowhere when Bulgaria failed to deal with a simple ball over the top, but Isaac Price sent his shot wide and moments later Bulgaria were celebrating.
Having survived an onslaught, Northern Ireland gave the goal away.
Brown shepherded the ball back to Peacock-Farrell in an awkward spot but the goalkeeper made a poor decision to play it sideways to Daniel Ballard, and Kolev stepped in, squaring the ball for Despodov to tap in at the back post for his fifth goal in his last eight internationals.
Northern Ireland belatedly woke up as Conor Bradley began coming in search of the ball more centrally, but he could not get the better of Aberdeen goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov as the pair challenged for a Charles cross before Ballard headed over.
Northern Ireland were better at the start of the second half too as Charles and Bradley got the ball moving, yet chances were hard to come by, and O’Neill sent on Shayne Lavery for Dion Charles just before the hour in a bid to mix things up.
Read more:
- Craig Gordon is still Scotland's best goalkeeper, says former manager
- The Tartan Army must raise their game - and embrace ultra culture
Bulgaria were still holding Northern Ireland at arm’s length. Although they had managed to move the game into Bulgaria’s half, Northern Ireland were actually creating fewer chances than they managed on the break in the first half.
Lavery headed over from a Lewis cross and Ballard missed the target late on as Bulgaria saw the game out.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here