Northern Ireland were beaten 1-0 by Germany in their World Cup qualifier on Monday night, with Ethan Galbraith admitting it was a tough result for the team to take
Ethan Galbraith described Northern Ireland’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Germany as the most difficult result this emerging squad has had to digest so far, though he maintained it wouldn’t shake their belief.
Nick Woltemade’s rather fortunate 31st-minute strike, which deflected in off the Newcastle forward’s shoulder from a corner, decided Monday evening’s closely-contested encounter at Windsor Park where Northern Ireland pressed the four-time world champions right until a final whistle that arrived too early for their liking.
Galbraith was amongst several Northern Ireland players who caught sight of a late leveller but they couldn’t locate the crucial chance required to claim what would have been a well-earned point.
“It’s just pure disappointment,” Galbraith said. “I think you could probably see the reaction was off at the end. Obviously it’s horrible not to win the game, the way we played.
“The second half especially, I thought near the end it was one-way traffic. It’s a tough one to take.”
Michael O’Neill had characterised it as the type of match that would be settled either by a flash of genius or an odd goal, and it proved more the latter as Woltemade couldn’t connect cleanly with David Raum’s corner but managed enough for his maiden international strike nonetheless.
“We’re big on our set-pieces and stuff, so it is a disappointing goal,” Galbraith said. “I don’t think they cut through us as much. It’s just really disappointing that they got something.
“Sometimes a bit of luck goes against you. Really, really disappointing.”
The defeat leaves Northern Ireland trailing Germany and Slovakia by three points ahead of their final two Group A matches next month, with an away trip to Slovakia in Kosice followed by Luxembourg’s visit to Windsor Park.
“Nothing changes from our side,” Galbraith added. “We’ll go into the games with full confidence and get as many points as we can.”
Sadly for Galbraith, the Swansea midfielder will be ruled out of the Kosice clash after being booked for a challenge on Aleksandar Pavlovic in first-half injury time, triggering a one-match ban.
Conor Bradley was absent from Monday’s encounter having received his second yellow of the campaign during Friday’s 2-0 triumph over Slovakia, when the understanding between the Liverpool full-back and Galbraith proved crucial.
Northern Ireland will now be denied that combination for a consecutive fixture.
“It’s a horrendous thing,” Galbraith said of his yellow card. “I think you’ve seen it with Conor the other night. You do have it in the back of your mind the whole game.
“It’s one of the ones that was avoidable as well. I took the heavy touch and I’ve gone to play the ball again and maybe I did catch him – it’s frustrating.”
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