Northern Ireland take point against top seeds to maintain strong Nations League start

Northern Ireland extended their unbeaten start to Nations League Group B2 with a goalless draw against Hungary in Belfast.

Michael O’Neill’s side - which had an average age of 22.5 - sit on four points from two games going into the third part of the quadruple header of games against Ukraine on Friday.

The hosts were solid if unspectacular on the night and despite having the clear better of the first half, a late rally from the visitors meant Northern lreland were probably content with a point in the end.

After an uneventful first quarter-hour, Trai Hume tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area but his effort was wide of the target.

It wasn't until the 30-minute mark that the next goalscoring opportunity came around, as Patrick Kelly looked to catch Balazs Toth off guard with a chip from distance but the 'keeper was just alert enough to gather.

Northern Ireland probably should have gone in front 10 minutes before the break.

A long throw from Ciaron Brown was helped on by Tom Atcheson and fell to Kelly after penalty appeals for an apparent foul on Shea Charles by Liverpool full-back Milos Kerkez were waved away.

Kelly though couldn't keep the subsequent effort down, with the shot clipping the top of the crossbar on its way over.

Northern Ireland continued in the ascendancy after the restart but without necessarily troubling the Hungary goal.

Possibly the closest we came to a breakthrough in Belfast came 11 minutes from time, when Isaac Price skipped past Dominik Szoboszlai but had his near-post strike pushed behind by Toth in the Hungary goal.

At the other end Ruairi McConville - deputising in defence for the injured Dan Ballard - made a key block to get in the way of Willi Orban's goalbound effort.

Having offered very little for much of the night, Hungary finished the contest the stronger of the two teams.

Milan Vitalis drilled a shot wide of Pierce Charles' post with around three minutes of normal time left, before Alex Toth saw his strike repelled by the Northern Ireland number one with Donat Barany unable to capitalise on the loose ball.

The stalemate leaves Northern Ireland level with Ukraine on top of the group. And it's Ukraine up next for the Green and White Army - that clash being held in Trnava, Slovakia on Friday.

Northern Ireland: P Charles, Atcheson, McConville, Brown, Hume, S Charles (C), Galbraith, Devenny, Kelly (D Charles 70), Price (Magennis 88), Donley (Spencer 70).

Subs not used: Hazard, Peacock-Farrell, Devlin, Forbes, O'Neill, Smyth, Morrison, McNair, Graham. Booked: Galbraith, Price, Donley, S Charles.

Hungary: B Toth, Bolla (Osvath 34), Orban, Csinger, Kerkez, Jurek (Barany 54), Csongvai (Vitalis), Schaefer, T Szucs (A Toth 54), Szoboszlai (C), Lukacs (M Toth 76).

Subs not used: Gundel-Takacs, Pecsi, Markgraf, Doktorics, Varkonyi, Szucs, Nagy. Booked: Csongvai, Orban

Referee: Ricardo De Burgos (Spain)

Attendance: 18,082

Man of the Match: Isaac Price

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