WINDSOR PARK WITNESSED a new hero as Paul Smyth came off the bench to snatch a late victory for Northern Ireland over South Korea in what was an entertaining friendly in Belfast.
The North began on the back foot, and it wasn’t long before the Koreans’ early pressure told: on seven minutes, a wonderful chipped through ball by Tottenham’s Son Heung-min picked out the run of midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon, who took a touch before lashing the ball past Trevor Carson to give the visitors the lead.
Given Korea were so comfortable in possession, it threatened to be a long day for the hosts, but Michael O’Neill’s men weathered an early storm to regain a foothold: six minutes after they fell behind, Jamie Ward had the ball in the net only to be correctly adjudged offside.
Ward, however, was influential in the equaliser which arrived on the 20-minute mark.
It was a goal straight from the training ground, astutely executed as far as the finish, which saw a Korean send the ball over his own line: as Korea awaited a free-kick into their box, Ward sneaked down the right-hand flank and received a short pass which caught the eastern Asians off-guard.
The Cardiff City winger fired a ball across the six-yard box where Kim Min-jae had the misfortune of bundling the ball past his own ‘keeper. In truth, though, had the Korean defender not intervened, there were two Northern Irishmen queuing up for the finish behind him.
Spurred on by the leveller, Northern Ireland gained the ascendancy until the interval. Josh Magennis nodded a tame header straight at the keeper after making a nuisance of himself in the box, and the home side remained dangerous from the set piece.
Magennis again came close after the break as he had a looping shot tipped over, but the second half – for the most part – belonged to Korea. Trevor Carson was forced into a string of tidy saves, while the North were fortunate to watch a couple of precarious deflections sail just wide of their sticks.
They defended well, though, in truth, constantly offering a physical obstacle to the onrushing Koreans, who attacked in waves but didn’t create a truly gilt-edged chance.
The entertainment subsided somewhat after 65-odd minutes, with a plethora of substitutions naturally impeding upon the game’s enjoyable flow, but Korea began knocking on the door once more with 10 to go, when a couple of last-ditch interventions from the home side kept them at bay.
And then from nothing, Windsor Park was brought to its feet once more.
With five minutes of normal time remaining, a long clearance down the left flank reached Conor Washington at the edge of the Korean box, who showed no shortage of strength before nodding the ball into the path of substitute and debutant Paul Smyth.
The 18-year-old QPR forward cleverly shimmied to afford himself half a yard of space before firing a beauty into the bottom left-hand corner. His celebration was as acrobatic as his finish was clinical.
The goal came merely 194 seconds after his international introduction.
As Windsor rocked, even Michael O’Neill – who mere moments prior had handed Smyth his international debut – couldn’t believe it on the sideline, shaking his head with a smile.
His side saw it out in the end, with Washington and Smyth producing solid work down the left to keep the ball in Korean territory during stoppage time and curtail any attempts at a late leveller.
