Northern Ireland boss Sammy McIlroy blasted his team for their defensive erorrs after they went down 4-3 away to Bulgaria tonight. McIlroy believes his side were very much at fault for each of Bulgaria's goals. Captain Krassimir Balakov scored the first from the penalty spot after the referee decided Colin Murdock's challenge was unfair. However, McIlroy blamed Jim Magilton for this particular goal after he lost possession just before Balakov went down.
Northern Ireland equalised in the 15th minute when Mark Williams headed home from a Michael Hughes corner. But the celebrations died two minutes later when Bulgaria regained the lead. The Irish defence seemed to go asleep and Martin Petrov had little difficulty in shooting from 14 yards out to add to Bulgaria's tally. Bulgaria enjoyed long stretches of possession and Roy Carroll was kept very busy in Northern Ireland's goalmouth.
The scoreline remained at 2-1 until the 72nd minute when Tchomakov took advantage of a free kick to beat Carroll from about 35 yards out. Within five minutes it was 4-1 when Petrov, unmarked in the box, volleyed the ball in at the back post.
It was quite a fightback by Northern Ireland at such a late stage to reduce the deficit to a single goal. Their second strike came when Hughes' shot was deflected up into the air and Stuart Elliott headed the ball home for his first-ever international goal. Then, in the 90th minute, David Healy was fouled in the area and stepped up himself to score the penalty. However, it was too little too late for McIlroy's team and they failed to get the all-important equaliser, ending any chance they had of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.
"When you defend the way we did tonight in international football - and they were schoolboy errors - you can't expect to get anything out of the game," explained McIlroy. "Every one of their goals we should have dealt with, including the penalty and the free-kick, and it was just unacceptable. To score three goals away from home and get nothing out of the game is terrible. It wasn't that they carved us open and it was just down to basic mistakes from us. We just didn't defend properly. We don't score a lot of goals and to score three away from home and still leave empty-handed really rubs it in. But we are a young team and I hope that they will learn from this," he added.
(PA)
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
