Holland 3-1 Northern Ireland: Late goals save Netherlands' blushes – Daily Mail, Daily Mail

Northern Ireland were left ‘devastated’ after Holland snatched two injury-time goals in Rotterdam to almost certainly end their hopes of qualifying from Group C.

Michael O’Neill appeared to be on the brink of the greatest result of his eight years in charge when substitute Josh Magennis stunned the De Kuip Stadium in the 75 th minute.

The Hull City striker, whose only other goal this season came in the Carabao Cup against Preston, climbed to head home at the far post with Northern Ireland’s only effort on target after a mix-up between Daley Blind and Matthijs de Ligt allowed Stuart Dallas to cross.

Holland coach Ronald Koeman described the goal as ‘an ax in the neck’. Up to that point, Northern Ireland had produced an outstanding defensive performance to frustrate a team ranked third in the world who enjoyed 77 per cent of the possession.

But Holland’s pedigree finally told as they hit back to break Northern Ireland hearts and secure a 17 th straight win at this ground. The Dutch leveled in the 80 th minute when Donyell Malen squared the ball for former Manchester United man Memphis Depay to score.

A draw would still have been a fantastic result for Northern Ireland; one to match the World Cup qualifying point away to Portugal in 2012 and their win over Ukraine at the finals of Euro 2016.

But substitute Luuk de Jong dealt them a sickening blow in the 92 nd minute when he scored at the second attempt, and Depay raced through to steer a low shot into the far corner for his second of the night.

Defeat means Northern Ireland must win their remaining games at home to Holland and away to Germany next month , and hope one of the two European heavyweights drop points against Estonia or Belarus.

‘We’re devastated – it’s very harsh on us, ‘said O’Neill who may be able to plot an alternative route to the finals through a playoff.

‘The players knew the significance of a point and we’ve come away with nothing. We need six points and it’s going to be extremely difficult. ‘

Koeman had called Northern Ireland’s players’ fighting machines’ beforehand and they certainly lived up that reputation. The size of the task facing Northern Ireland was evident from the team sheet; one side with just three Premier League players against another in which every man is involved in European club competition this season.

Nothing underlined the mis-match better than the battle between Kyle Lafferty and Holland’s £ 142 .5million center back pairing of Virgil van Dijk and De Ligt.

The Sarpsborg striker has not scored for his country in almost three years going back to Azerbaijan in 2016, and Lafferty’s goal drought passed the 12 – hour mark long before he was replaced in the second half.

There was little chance of it ending in a game that was always going to be played out in the Northern Ireland half with precious little opportunity for them to attack.

O’Neill’s players knew that and stuck to their task commendably. They were disciplined, held their positions and were not afraid to clear their lines, eschewing much of the progressive football we have seen from them in this qualifying campaign. After all, Holland are a very different proposition to Estonia and Belarus.

For all their pedigree, however, the Dutch couldn’t penetrate in the first half. The only moment of concern came in the 25 th minute when Dallas blocked Georginio Wijnaldum’s shot and the ball fell to Blind who blazed over from 15 yards. A limp header from Wijnaldum in the 45 th minute was the first effort on target.

The game opened up in the second half with both Steven Bergwijn and Wijnaldum going close before the game swung dramatically with four goals in the last 20 minutes.