Northern Ireland stunned as Kazakhstan substitute Abat Aimbetov nets late winner

Toothless Northern Ireland were stunned as Kazakhstan substitute Abat Aimbetov struck at the death to snatch a 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying victory at Windsor Park.

As Northern Ireland had been piling forward in search of a late winner themselves, Aimbetov broke from his own half, riding Craig Cathcart’s challenge and capitalising when a sliding Paddy McNair got in the way of Ciaron Brown, slotting the ball past Bailey Peacock-Farrell to stun the home crowd.

Michael O’Neill had said he was not thinking about qualifying for next summer’s finals in the wake of Friday’s 1-0 defeat in Denmark, and this result is another huge blow as they have only three points, earned against minnows San Marino, from their opening four games.

When Northern Ireland left Copenhagen after Friday’s 1-0 defeat there was optimism about the way they had battled, only denied a late equaliser by a marginal offside, but the mood was very different here as the final whistle was greeted with boos.

Disappointment as our night ends in defeat. #GAWA pic.twitter.com/YMIQ7RrIFC

— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) June 19, 2023

Northern Ireland’s inability to overcome a side 50 places below them in the rankings at home showed the limitations of this young squad, robbed of experience by injuries to senior players.

Another blank means Northern Ireland have only scored two in their last nine home matches in qualifying campaigns, with the lack of quality in the final third thwarting their ambitions.

O’Neill had spoken about the difficulty of adjusting his side’s mindset from the predominantly defensive outlook they had in Copenhagen on Friday to playing on the front foot at home, but even though they kept Kazakhstan pegged back for long patches, there were only