NI youngsters fall short

A brave performance by Northern Ireland Under 21s ultimately counted for nothing when they were beaten by Portugal.

Late red card scuppers Northern Ireland hopes

A brave performance by Northern Ireland Under 21s ultimately counted for nothing when they were beaten by Portugal in a friendly. After holding Portugal to a goalless first-half, the visitors quickly found themselves two goals down after strikes from Fabio Coentrao and Yazalde Gomes Pinto. However, Everton defender Shane Duffy gave them hope when he coolly slotted home a penalty in the 74th minute. The spot-kick was awarded after promising front-man James Lawrie was sent tumbling to the floor. Northern Ireland grew in confidence but were then reduced to ten men when Blackburn's Johnny Flynn was dismissed. It was a disappointing loss to suffer with a Uefa Championship qualifier against Czech Republic to come next month. But assistant manager Alfie Wylie was pleased with the way the team had performed in the unfamiliar conditions. He said: "It was a warm night, which did not help us and we had to cope with a partisan crowd. "But I thought we knuckled down to the task in hand and played some nice football against a strong Portuguese side. "It was a good work-out and I am sure the experience will help us when we come to play the Czechs."