England could find no way past a battling Northern Ireland in their 2025 Euro Under-21 Championship qualifying match at the Ballymena Showgrounds.
The reigning champions needed victory to keep pace with Ukraine in the race for Group F’s sole automatic qualifying place but after a frustrating 0-0 now sit two points behind having played a game more.
With Lee Carsley in temporary charge of the senior side, it was Ben Futcher in the England dugout and, while his side had plenty of possession, they could not translate that dominance into clear cut opportunities with the hosts full value for their point.
When England’s Jonathan Rowe squeezed his side’s first effort of the game wide after only 30 seconds, Northern Ireland must have expected their goalkeeper Pierce Charles was set for an eventful evening.
Yet, despite all England’s possession, it was 15 minutes before James McAtee drew a save from the Sheffield Wednesday man and even that was a comfortable one.
He did have to be alert to beat a charging Rowe to Elliot Anderson‘s attempted through ball but home boss Tommy Wright will have been delighted by how his side minimised England’s threat throughout.
The best chance of the first half fell to Aston Villa‘s Morgan Rogers but he headed McAtee’s free-kick over the bar.
Northern Ireland’s forays forward were rare but they did have the home crowd appealing for a penalty when their high press saw them win the ball back on the edge of the box and Dale Taylor fall under the challenge of Hayden Hackney. Referee David Smajc, however, was unmoved.
With Ukraine having beaten Serbia earlier in the day, the pressure was on England to step up their efforts in the second half.
But while they enjoyed a similar level of possession after the restart, and moved the ball neatly, they still struggled to really test Charles in the Northern Ireland goal.
Replacement Liam Delap did manage to free himself from his marker on two occasions but twice headed off target, while another McAtee effort was easily saved by the keeper.
With the home crowd drawing encouragement from their side’s spirited efforts, Northern Ireland continued to press England into mistakes, and produced a few half chances of their own.
The closest of them saw Crystal Palace midfielder Justin Devenny’s dipping effort from the edge of the box fly over the bar with just four minutes remaining.
But despite a few more speculative efforts from both, neither could find a winner in the closing stages.
England will now hope that Northern Ireland can produce a similar display when Ukraine are the visitors to Ballymena on Tuesday.
