Q Radio Sport
It was a familiar feeling for Northern Ireland as a positive performance went unrewarded in a 2-1 friendly defeat to the United States at Windsor Park on Sunday evening.
Gio Reyna, the 18-year-old born in the north east of England when his father Claudio was playing for Sunderland, opened the scoring with a deflected strike before Chelsea's Christian Pulisic doubled their advantage before the hour with a disputed penalty.
A superb strike from Niall McGinn gave Northern Ireland late hope but, as Wednesday's vital World Cup Qualifier against Bulgaria looms, their winless run under Ian Baraclough continued in frustrating fashion.
Baraclough had paid lip service to the importance of this match but his team-sheet told a different story as he made 10 changes from Thursday's 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Italy.
Only Corry Evans, replaced at half-time in Parma, retained his place, while Steven Davis was not in the squad as he was made to wait for his record-breaking 126th cap.
⚽️ NI team to face @USMNT at Windsor Park, 5.05pm - captained by Kyle Lafferty with a start for @OfficialBlues star Shayne Lavery: 🙌 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/7X0j7pAgNg
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) March 28, 2021
In contrast the Americans fielded another strong side, with Pulisic captaining an 11 that included Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest and Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
NI captain for the evening, Kyle Lafferty.
Northern Ireland were pressing high and forcing mistakes, but they could not capitalise and fell behind against the run of play to Reyna's strike with half an hour gone.
There was a huge element of fortune to the goal, though, as the Borussia Dortmund forward's shot took a significant deflection off Ciaron Brown to leave Conor Hazard wrong-footed.
Shayne Lavery tried to respond as he forced a smart save from Steffen, but the Americans ended the half on top as Dan Ballard made an important block on Jordan Siebatcheu's shot.
New cap Dion Charles was one of four substitutes brought on by Baraclough, but by the time he and his colleagues got themselves ready, Northern Ireland were 2-0 down.
Again the luck was all on the American side as Pulisic went down under a challenge from Ballard. Replays showed the on-loan Blackpool defender got a touch on the ball first, but Pulisic dusted himself off to casually fire his spot-kick past Hazard.
Charles was quickly into the action, linking up with skipper Kyle Lafferty before sending a dipping effort just wide of the target, then running at the American defence before hitting a strong shot straight at Steffen.
Fellow substitute McGinn then produced the moment of the night with his 88th-minute strike, but it came too late to change the result.
🎥 It’s a cracker! @nmcginn10 glorious #GAWA goal v USA today: @NorthernIreland next game is a #FIFAWorldCup qualifier on Wednesday night against Bulgaria in Belfast. pic.twitter.com/9GYISrBYOM
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) March 28, 2021
Defeat means that Baraclough's only success in his 10 games in charge remains the penalty shoot-out win over Bosnia and Herzegovina back in October. There could be no better time to change that than Wednesday night.
FT: International friendly@NorthernIreland 1
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) March 28, 2021
McGinn@USMNT 2
Reyna, Pulisic (pen)
10 changes from #GAWA team in Italy and no disgrace v the highly-rated Americans. @nmcginn10 wonderful late goal the highlight.
Next up: #FIFAWorldCup qualifier v Bulgaria, Windsor, Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/NZ3UhbEehK
Nice touch from the US Consulate in Belfast👇 : 👏 @USAinNI https://t.co/OgoY79Ejqp
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) March 28, 2021