Steve Davis scored late to help Northern Ireland produce one of the narrow football results of the weekend in a friendly. Luxembourg was the better of the two sides but could not find the back of the net in the second half. Josh Magennis opened the scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute before Marvin Martins equalized in the 58th minute. Steve Davis came off the bench to score in the 83rd minute before another substitute Gavin Whyte sealed the win in the 85th minute.
Managers Reaction
Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough: “Did we deserve 3-1? Some people may say not but we took our chances. We played like a team that haven’t been together for five months. Luxembourg, they’ve not been together either but they clicked straight away. We were a bit rusty but I’m delighted with the win. Did we deserve 3-1? Maybe not but that’s the way the games go sometimes when you don’t play well but come away with a win – maybe that’s the mark of a decent team. It shows good
character.”
“It felt like a first pre-season game. It was frustrating that we couldn’t get things going in possession. I thought we looked solid as a back three or a back five, compact, and we made it difficult for them to get behind us. But the energy wasn’t there at times. It was planned anyway but it probably came at the perfect time. Jonny was going to come off after an hour, Davo was going to get half an hour, but we needed that spark of energy at that time.”
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