Farquhar’s header gives NI U21’s win over Serbia

Charlie Allen scored Northern Ireland’s equaliser in SerbiaNorthern Ireland Under-21s secured an impressive 2-1 victory in Serbia in their European Championship qualifier.

Serbia took a 1-0 lead thanks to Stefan Mitrovic’s 39th minute effort but Northern Ireland struck back 11 minutes after the restart through midfielder Charlie Allen.

Centre-back Craig Farquhar’s header with 20 minutes to go proved to be the match-winning goal.

With the win, Tommy Wright’s side moved fourth in Group F.

In a first-half of few chances, Serbia’s Vanja Vlahovic was the first from either side to draw a save from the opposing goalkeeper, his effort from the edge of the box parried wide by Pierce Charles after the visitors had been caught in possession when attempting to play out from the back.

Six minutes before the break, Serbia skipper Mitrovic opened the scoring for the hosts.

Played through by Vanja Vlahovic, Farquhar and Patrick Kelly both converged on the Crvena Zvezda attacker with the ball squirming out of the tackle and over Charles.

Northern Ireland came close to an equaliser in first-half stoppage time with Farquhar’s headed effort from a set-piece angled just beyond the post.

But they would start the second-half well and were rewarded for their efforts when Allen found the net in the 56th minute, the midfielder providing a confident finish on the end of Cliftonville’s Sean Stewart’s probing through ball.

With the second-half proving a more open affair than the first, Carl Johnston saw his goal-bound effort deflected wide but Northern Ireland would take the lead from the resulting corner.

From Justin Devenny’s delivery, Farquhar looped his header towards the goal with the keeper’s touch taking the ball only onto the crossbar and into the net.

As Serbia piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser during the final 20 minutes, Northern Ireland held firm with Charles largely untroubled in the closing stages.

Line-upsSerbia U21Formation 4-3-3

23Ilic2MimovicSubstituted forLazicat 85’minutes15Kovacevic5Drezgic4Petrovic22Lukic6MaticBooked at 19minsSubstituted forJojicat 75’minutes20VasicSubstituted forStevanovicat 85’minutes7MitrovicSubstituted forGluscevicat 85’minutes11VlahovicBooked at 22mins17PantovicSubstituted forLazeticat 75’minutesSubstitutes1Manojlovic8Stevanovic9Lazetic10Kabic12Katic13Prijovic14Lazic16Jojic18GluscevicNorthern Ireland U21Formation 4-1-4-1

23Charles6CaseySubstituted forFogartyat 78’minutes4McConville15Farquhar3StewartSubstituted forRussellat 78’minutes18Robinson2Johnston21KellySubstituted forMcGeeat 86’minutes10Devenny7AllenSubstituted forMageeat 90+1’minutes9TaylorSubstituted forMcGuckinat 78’minutesSubstitutes5McClelland8Archer11McGuckin12McMullan13Fogarty14McGee19Magee20Lindsay22RussellReferee:Yigal Frid

Attendance:4,000

Live TextMatch ends, Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 2.

Second Half ends, Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 2.

Substitution, Northern Ireland U21. Benjamin Magee replaces Charlie Allen.

Substitution, Northern Ireland U21. Ethan McGee replaces Patrick Kelly.

Substitution, Serbia U21. Mihailo Stevanovic replaces Aljosa Vasic.

Substitution, Serbia U21. Uros Lazic replaces Ognjen Mimovic.

Substitution, Serbia U21. Matija Gluscevic replaces Stefan Mitrovic.

Substitution, Northern Ireland U21. Tom Fogarty replaces Odhran Casey.

Substitution, Northern Ireland U21. Johnny Russell replaces Sean Stewart.

Substitution, Northern Ireland U21. Ciaran McGuckin replaces Dale Taylor.

Substitution, Serbia U21. Marko Lazetic replaces Milos Pantovic.

Substitution, Serbia U21. Nikola Jojic replaces Aleksa Matic.

Goal! Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 2. Craig Farquhar (Northern Ireland U21) header from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Justin Devenny.

Goal! Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 1. Charlie Allen (Northern Ireland U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Sean Stewart.

Second Half begins Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 0.

First Half ends, Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 0.

Goal! Serbia U21 1, Northern Ireland U21 0. Stefan Mitrovic (Serbia U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.

Vanja Vlahovic (Serbia U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Aleksa Matic (Serbia U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.