04/06/2003

McIlroy positive despite tenth defeat in a row

Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy was today reflecting on a tenth successive defeat for his side after a 2-0 loss in Italy last night.

With six Northern Ireland players making their debut in Campobasso, McIlroy's men far from disgraced themselves with a competent performance in front of nearly 23,000 fans, 200 of whom flew over from the province for the friendly this week.

Goals on either side of half time by Bernardo Corradi and Marco Delvecchio gave Italy a comfortable win, but for McIlroy it was a night to test new blood ahead of next week's Euro 2004 qualifier against Spain at Windsor Park.

While reflecting on the fact that his side have now gone 882 minutes without scoring, the Northern Ireland boss was still happy with the performance.

He said: "That is what sickens me. I have a young team out there who gave me 110 per cent but the headlines will be about how many minutes we have gone without scoring.

"There were some fantastic performances out there and I am proud of my team."

However, attention turns to next weeks game against a Spain side which has beaten Northern Ireland, 5-0 and 3-0 in their last two matches. A daunting prospect indeed.

(MB)

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