Northern Ireland v Austria

FRUSTRATION: AN EMOTION WE LOVE TO HATE! You couldn’t dream of a more wonderful start in international football than the one that the angels gave to young Gavin Whyte. It happened in our home friendly with Israel in September.

our defence to hammer a left-footed daisycutter wide of the left hand of Coleraine’s Victor Hunter and into the net. After that the visitors put up the barricades and we went out by the single goal. It was small consolation when the following spring the same Spanish team that we had stretched to the limit were crowned champions of Europe. Then there was the visit of the USSR in 1969. The team in red made sure that George Best was tightly marked. He turned on the magic, of course, but the Soviet defence was an iron curtain. Any time the hosts threatened their tall goalkeeper Yevgeni Rudakov dealt with the danger. Fast forward two decades to the historic friendly against Chile. A poor crowd gathered at Windsor on a balmy May evening in 1989. At the same time Arsenal were playing Liverpool at Anfield in the English league championship decider and every pub in Belfast was showing the game. The Chilean officials had refused to reschedule the game to the day before or the day after. Despite their diminished support Northern Ireland threw the kitchen sink at the Chilean defence. But the visitors could not be broken down. They attacked in numbers just before the break and stole the only goal of the game. We who endured that frustrating evening consider it as a kind of badge of honour. While the half-hearted and the uncommitted preferred to watch the two top teams in England, we, the true fans of Norn Iron, were enduring disappointment (winning his 10th cap that evening was a gifted midfielder called Michael O’Neill. I wonder what ever happened to him?). Yes, frustration is as much a part of football as success. So when everything comes together, as it did for Gavin Whyte against Israel, we thank the angels and keep on hoping for more of the same! Words Cunningham Peacock

He had been on the field for two minutes and was following up a Northern Ireland attack spearheaded by Conor Washington. Suddenly the Israeli keeper was sprawling on the turf and the ball was spinning back towards Gavin. The gaping net was oh so inviting. Of course he hammered the ball home. What else could he do? Football really is a funny old game. Sometimes goals come gift-wrapped and presented on a silver tray by an immaculate waiter. Sometimes goals will not come at all. Three days before Gavin Whyte’s dream debut Northern Ireland dominated a competitive game against Bosnia & Herzegovina. At times the visitors’ penalty area resembled a pinball machine as the ball bounced and rebounded and ricocheted and went absolutely everywhere but into the net. According to the statisticians Northern Ireland enjoyed 68% possession and had 17 shots at goal compared with just five by the visitors. But who went home laughing? Not the Green And White Army! We had to wait 93 minutes for Will Grigg to fire our consolation goal. Well, isn’t that what makes the game interesting? The pendulum swings for us and against us. Sometimes we are blessed with success and on other occasions we are left wondering what might have been. This autumn I celebrate 60 years of watching Norn Iron. Over the years I have endured many a frustrating 90 minutes. There were times when the combined willpower of the fans failed to produce a goal despite the energy and enthusiasm of the lads in green. I will never forget the home leg of a Nations Cup clash with Spain in October 1963. The lads had managed to hold the Spanish aces to a 1-1 draw in Bilbao the previous May. Now here was a gilt-edged chance to knock a highly fancied team out of the competition. There was no lack of enthusiasm in the home line-up captained by veteran Billy Bingham, but the vital goal eluded us. Late in the second half the Spanish broke away on the left and Francisco Gento of Real Madrid outpaced

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