An injury-time strike from Stuart Dallas has handed Northern Ireland a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan away in Baku in their Group C World Cup 2018 qualifying clash this afternoon.
The sweltering conditions in the capital seemed to have an impact on the game from the off, as the hosts moved possession around slowly at the back, leaving Michael O'Neill's men to conserve their energy by sitting deep early on.
It took the best part of 20 minutes for the game to come to life, Ramil Sheydayev taking advantage of an injury to Gareth McAuley to beat his man for pace before blazing comically over the crossbar following some vital pressure from Michael McGovern.
Industry proved to be the buzzword of the first half as both sides failed to provide much invention, although Northern Ireland were unlucky not to go into half time in front when Chris Brunt produced a wonderful ball across the face of goal for the run of Steven Davis, who was just a couple of inches away from making the all-important contact.
The conditions coloured the second half in much the same way as the first, although Azerbaijan found some quality through Almeida de Oliveira after the hour mark, as his clever ball found Afran Ismayilov, who saw his low shot kept out smartly by McGovern.
Ismayilov proved the most productive forward player for Azerbaijan and he might have won things in the closing moments, but the winger could not keep his head after beating the offside trap as he saw his effort go sailing over the bar with only McGovern to beat.
The drama was far from over yet, however, as the ball broke to Dallas inside the box late on, leaving the midfielder to produce a deft finish with his laces in order to seal a dramatic 1-0 victory for the visiting side.
Christopher Dodd
