Northern Ireland coach Michael O’Neill has criticized the “strange” first international goal scored by Newcastle’s most expensive player, Nick Woltmad, in Germany’s 1-0 win in Belfast in a World Cup qualifier.
Voltimed sent the ball back of his shoulder to leave Germany at Windsor Park with three points to keep them at the top of Group A, level with Slovakia and three points ahead of O’Neill’s side.
Once again, the young Northern Ireland side played with intent, growing into the game and managing more attempts on goal than their in-form visitors, but a lack of top-notch skill proved costly in O’Neill’s 100th game.
Daniel Ballard’s 14th-minute goal was ruled out for offside by Paddy McNair at the start of the attack, but otherwise it was all half-chances they couldn’t convert, leaving them with all they could do to reach top two in Group A – although they still have a potential safety net across the Nations League.
“We are disappointed,” O’Neill said. “It was a painful loss. I thought in the first half we lacked a little bit of belief in the ball. To be fair, Germany imposed their physical force on us and it was difficult for us to find any kind of rhythm.
“The disallowed goal would have definitely helped us at that point but it was offside and we shouldn’t really be offside in that situation, so it’s a mistake on our part.
“The goal we lost is a strange goal, we should have defended the corner better but it bounced off the player’s shoulder and ended up in our net, so it wasn’t even a header.
“It’s disappointing, but in the second half we were great, we gave everything and we couldn’t get an equaliser.
“It looked as if the game was going to be decided either by a moment of something special or by a bizarre goal, and that is what was decided in the end.”
O’Neill and a number of Northern Ireland players went to speak to referee Jesus Gil Manzano at the end of the match – unhappy that he had added only two minutes of stoppage time during the period in which Northern Ireland had given Germany away.
“I think he added three (minutes) in the first half,” O’Neill said. “I’m not sure how many substitutions there were, but adding two minutes I thought was ridiculous, to be honest.
“I won’t go into it, but we weren’t happy with the referee’s performance that night, to be honest. I thought it was overrated. (But) look, all the big decisions were right.”
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