And here is David Hytner’s match report:
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Key events
Wales are in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, where they will play Hungary or Belgium on Friday night. It was a poor game, yet constantly engaging because of what it meant to both teams. Northern Ireland were probably the better team, and showed again that they are wonderfully coached by Michael O’Neill. But this time the individual trumped the team: Gareth Bale created the decisive own-goal from Gareth McAuley with a sensational cross.
Ashley Williams summed up Wales’ defiance by finishing the match with a limp shoulder. He must be a doubt for Friday, but that’s something to worry about later. Wales are in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, and all of them will be starring in documentaries in 2041 and 2066. Commiserations to an admirable Northern Ireland side and congratulations to Wales, whose fans are going to stir tomorrow with the happiest hangover of their lives. Thanks for your company, night!
Full time: Wales 1-0 Northern Ireland
Davis swings it in, Allen clears; McGinn crosses, it’s deflected behind for a corner. The keeper comes up, but Bale heads the corner clear and the final whistle is blown!
90+3 min McGinn tries to run Neil Taylor, who blocks the cross. It’ll be another long theow from McGinnis, right into the six-yard box. Hennessey punches it away excellently, but then Ramsey fouls Davis and is booked for kicking the ball away. This is it, a free-kick on the right-wing, and Northern Ireland’s last chance.
90+2 min Corry Evans fouls Robson-Kanu 40 yards from goal, which wastes around 40 seconds for Wales. This is it for Northern Ireland.
90 min Hennessey charges out to calmly claim a long throw. There will be four minutes of added time.
89 min Lafferty’s clever flick finds Davis just inside the box, but Allen tracks his run superbly and clears with the aid of Ashley Williams.
87 min I always said Ashley Williams was the new Beckenbauer. (Beckenbauer played extra-time of the 1970 World Cup semi-final in a sling because of a shoulder injury.)
86 min Robson-Kanu beats the outrushing McGovern to a bouncing ball just inside the area, but he can only head the ball out of play. Ashley Williams is struggling after the collision with Jonny Williams. He has done some serious damage to his left shoulder.
James Collins is ready but Williams wants to continue, even though he is holding his left shoulder by his side. This is incredible courage, and possibly foolish.
85 min “I don’t want to descend into empty cliches,” says Matt Dony, “but, (clears throat) It’s a results business, Rob. They might not be playing with the skill and panache of other teams, but if Wales go through, 3 million of us will not care in the slightest. I do get the point, but I don’t care if neutrals enjoy the game, as long as Wales get through. None of us enjoyed watching Greece grind and fluke their way to Euro 2004, but the records show they were champions. And that’s what matters.”
Oh I completely agree. You have to take each case on its merits but generally the underdogs should be cut a lot more slack when it comes to entertainment. Folk who support, say, Manchester United and England can’t really understand.
83 min Northern Ireland make their last change, with the huge centre-forward Josh Magennis replacing the centre-back and own-goalscorer McAuley.
82 min Pundits often get quite smug when the team trumps the individual, as with Italy’s win over Belgium, so it’s only fair to point out when the opposite happens. Northern Ireland have played excellently here, but a moment of brilliance from Gareth Bale seems to have decided the game.
81 min A nasty collision between Ashley and Jonny Williams prompts Martin Atkinson to stop play even though Northern Ireland are on the attack. It was the right decision. It didn’t look great at first, with Jonny Williams lying face down, but he seems to be okay now.
79 min Oliver Norwood is replaced by Niall McGinn for Northern Ireland.
78 min Poor Gareth McAuley. Thing is, he took the right option. The alternative was to leave it and let Robson-Kanu score; had he done that he would have rightly been slaughtered. It was an instinctive decision, and he was right to stretch for the ball in the hope it was deflect over the bar.
77 min GET WILL GRIGG ON.
GOAL! Wales 1-0 Northern Ireland (McAuley own goal 75)
Ramsey played the ball left to Bale, who smashed a devastating low cross into the six-yard box. The stretching McAuley had to go for it, with Robson-Kanu behind him, and he could only stab it into his own net from four yards. It was a stunning cross from Bale, and I’m not sure McAuley could have done anything differently.
74 min Bale has been livelier in the last five minutes, and there is an increasing sense that Wales are going to nick this. And they’ve scored!
73 min “Can we just vote for both these teams to LEAVE and have both Italy and Spain go through to the last eight?” says Gary Naylor. “I mean, it is a week for bonkers decisions after all.”
72 min “To answer Matt Dony’s pithy question, no I don’t work for Barcelona,” says Jonathan Francis. “And in fact, one of my favorite matches was Jose’s ten-man Inter defending like savants at the Camp Nou in 2010. So Matt is absolutely right that there is more than one ideal way to play football; I just disagree that “poorly” should be included in that list.”
71 min Norwood drills an excellent long pass to Lafferty, who tries to go round the outside of Chester on the left of the box. Chester does brilliantly to get between Lafferty and the ball before turning calmly to run the ball away.
69 min Northern Ireland’s first substitution is a straight swap, Conor Washington for Jamie Ward.
69 min “Hello again,” says Phil West. “I’d like to point out that I am delighted to see teams like Albania, N. Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and Wales playing at the Euros. There will be so many stars of the future from these countries who will look back and say they were inspired by this tournament. I just think this game is total merde, as the locals say.”
68 min
Dear everyone...
67 min Davis is booked for clumping Bale.
65 min “I enjoyed the 2003 Champions League Final,” says John Davis. “It was a pound a pint in the students’ union bar. Can’t remember the game.” I wish that I too could expunge that game from my memory for a tenner.
64 min Ramsey has been the best player on the pitch since half-time, really asserting himself both with and without the ball.
63 min Imagine if Will Grigg scored the winner. What a story that would be – especially as he’s not even on the pitch. Honk.
62 min Another Wales substitution: the lively Jonny Williams replaces Joe Ledley. Ramsey will drop into Ledley’s place.
In tribute to Northern Ireland, I quickly wrote this in the half-time break.
60 min “Does Jonathan Francis work for Barcelona?” says Matt Dony. “I’m sorry this game isn’t being played to his liking. But, yknow, there’s more than one way to play football. I mean, some of us even enjoyed the 2003 Champions League final.”
You’ve taken the joke too far with that last sentence. That’s out of order.
59 min Norwood drills a very deep corner towards Dallas, who has the run on Gunter but misjudges the flight of the ball. The imagination and variety of Northern Ireland’s set pieces is exceptional.
58 min Bale crunches the ball over the wall, and McGovern springs to his left to make a good save. It wasn’t in the corner but it was dipping sharply. Northern Ireland break, and Taylor is booked for clattering Ward.
57 min Ramsey is starting to influence the game. A crossfield pass to the right finds Gunter, who plays it back to Bale. He comes infield, waits for the challenge of Norwood and goes over 25 yards from goal. It was a foul, even if Bale was looking for it, and it’s in a perfect position for him.
57 min “The discussion about quality reminds me of Eddie the Eagle,” says Bjorn Arvidsson. “I always found it wonderful that he was competing; in the true spirit of human competition. We are seeing, right now, the 16 best teams in Europe (at this moment) competing for the Crown of Europe. What could possibly be wrong with that?”
56 min Norwood’s long-range shot is comfortably saved by Hennessey.
55 min That was Vokes’s last touch, and he’s replaced by Hal Robson-Kanu.
53 min Vokes, who will presumably be coming off for Robson-Kanu, heads wide after a stunning outswinging cross from Ramsey on the right. It wasn’t an easy header – he was 15 yards from goal – but he was clear of the last defender and had a running jump.
53 min Northern Ireland have undoubtedly been the better side, and Wales are about to bring on Hal Robson-Kanu in an attempt to change that.
51 min “Hello Rob!” says Phil West. “Normally about this time someone says ‘all this game needs is a goal’. IMHO all this game needs is the final whistle.”
50 min Northern Ireland have made a very fast start to the second half, and Lafferty wins a free-kick 30 yards from goal on the left. It’s another cute, training-ground set piece, with the ball zig-zagging to the other side of the field before Evans stands up a fine cross that is bravely headed away by Davies.
49 min Dallas, who has already been booked, is penalised near the halfway line. Martin Atkinson does not issue a second yellow, because Martin Atkinson is all-powerful. I think it was the right decision, though you could make a case both ways.
49 min “Yes, football is about more than quality on the pitch, but the knockout rounds of the Euros are not,” writes Jonathan Francis. “No neutral wants to watch Sunderland v. West Brom in the Champions League round of 16, and no neutral wants to watch their national equivalents play 120 minutes in the Euros. It was never the expansion to 24 in the group stages that was going to be the problem, but allowing 16 advance to the knockout, regardless of how passionate the support in the stands is.”
I can understand that argument, but I completely disagree.
48 min “Bing Bong?” says Andrew Benton. “Has the ref got a glockenspiel? More European than a whistle, I suppose. Why not equip refs with bagpipes instead, would make for much more interesting games.”
Anyone who is booked should have a recorder played in their ear for 30 seconds.
47 min “Are you lenient on Ramsey because you like him too much?” says Gaurav Pandit. “His offside was a stupid thing to do - the ball may have gone in, the goalkeeper was scrambling and not entirely in control of the ball at that time.”
Full disclosure: Aaron Ramsey is my lover.
46 min Bing bong! Northern Ireland begin the second half, kicking from left to right.
Half-time reading
Alan Shearer’s verdict on BBC One.
“The standard of football has been terrible.”
See, they got Shearer as well.
Half time: Wales 0-0 Northern Ireland
Bing bong! That’s half time. There haven’t been many chances, partly because both teams want to play on the counter-attack. But it’s been tactically interesting – no, honestly – and Northern Ireland will be really pleased with how it’s gone. See you in 10 minutes.
44 min Dallas is booked for a bad sliding foul on Bale, and will miss the quarter-final if Northern Ireland get there. Have a word with him.
42 min “This feels like warching Stoke play WBA at the end of August,” says James Pavitt. “Low quality, mildly diverting, but hardly what you’d expect from the last 16 of the Euros.”
I know what you mean, but football is about so much more than quality. At some point in the last decade, British football fans became fearful snobs. (I’ve been as guilty of this as anyone, so I’m not finger-pointing.) Northern Ireland in particular have played exceptionally well in the circumstances.
40 min Northern Ireland do so much set-piece work on the training ground. This corner is hit low towards the near post, where Ward runs away from goal and helps it on its way across the box. It’s cleared by a Wales defender, but it was neatly done. Ward had more time than he realised because nobody had followed him.
40 min Gunter concedes a needless free-kick just outside the area on the left wing. Northern Ireland are dangerous from set-pieces, and Norwood’s excellent inswinger is headed behind by Davies under considerable pressure. Desperate but excellent defending.
39 min “Dear Rob,” says Robert Wilson. “I was behind the goal in Lyon and cracked a rib during the celebrations for the 2nd goal against Ukraine (better than the bloke in front of me who lost it so badly he actually started biting his mates). Consequently, I’m rather anxious about the health and welfare of the unaccustomed-to-success Norn Iron fans. I can’t lose tonight anyway. If Wales win, I will immediately become Welsh. Celtic identity is so lovely and flexible that way.”
37 min Hughes cracks an excellent cross to the far post, where Gunter does very well to head away with Dallas lumbering towards him like a slasher-movie villain.
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