Tomas Bobcek’s injury-time goal knocked Northern Ireland out of Group A of the World Cup qualifiers, but a 1-0 loss to Slovakia guaranteed them a place in the play-offs.
Debutant Bobcek was on the pitch for just three minutes of the added eight minutes when he fired home from Laszlo Benes’ corner and the goal stood despite Northern Ireland being called for a foul after Daniel Ballard was brought down in the build-up.
Slovakia had already scored goals in the second half from Lukas Haraslin and David Strelek, but this time, with the home bench empty, it was a goal that sparked wild celebrations.
Slovakia’s Tomas Bobcek scores the winning goal in added time on his international debut.
Northern Ireland, who were missing four of the players who started against Germany last month, faced a fierce battle for 90 minutes, but Slovakia had the upper hand and a win over Germany will advance to Leipzig on Monday and top the group.
Northern Ireland’s misery ended with Ballard’s second yellow card in the last minute, but Croatia’s 3-1 win over the Faroe Islands would see them win their Nations League group and advance to the play-offs in March.
With Shea Charles, Ali McCann, Brodie Spencer and Ethan Galbraith out through injury and suspension, Michael O’Neill brought on Brad Lyons, Ruairi McConville, George Saville and the returning Conor Bradley, with Dion Charles leading the way.
Slovakia, boosted by the return of Stanisław Lobotka and David Hanko, attempted to get close to a weakened Northern Ireland side straight after losing 2-0 to Belfast last month, but after a shaky start the visitors took on the match.
Northern Ireland must advance to the World Cup finals through the play-offs.
Northern Ireland should have gone ahead on 17 minutes when Ballard beat three defenders to head Justin Devenney’s free-kick, but his chance went much further.
Slovakia immediately responded with their best chance of the first half when Middlesbrough’s Strelec beat the offside trap and hit the post one-on-one with Bailey Peacock-Farrell. The ball went to David Duris but he had no time to adjust as the header went over.
Northern Ireland were reliant on set-pieces but only half of their chances fell to Charles, who was substituted at the break by Jamie Reid.
Slovakia thought they had taken the lead in the 8th minute of the second half when Haraslin attempted a low free kick from a narrow angle, but Milan Skriniar reached for the ball in front of Peacock-Farrell and was flagged for offside.
This raised the volume level inside Kosicka Futbalova’s stadium and it grew even louder 10 minutes later when the hosts ruled out the others. Again, Haraslin fired a free-kick down the left flank, but Strelec used his hand to get past Peacock-Farrell.
O’Neill attempted to vary personnel and form but Slovakia kept coming and resistance was broken when Peacock-Farrell could not deal with a corner and Bobcek had his moment of glory.
Ballard was shown a harsh yellow for pushing Lobotka to take his marching orders, and as the night unraveled in Northern Ireland, O’Neill was booked by referee Istvan Kovacs after the final whistle.
