Northern Ireland 3-0 Israel

Davis 13, Dallas 41, Whyte 67

PRESSEYE
Author: Alex KeeryPublished 11th Sep 2018
Last updated 11th Sep 2018

Gavin Whyte scored within 2 minutes of coming off the bench on his Northern Ireland debut as they powered past Israel 3-0 at Windsor Park in a friendly.

The winger's strike added to first half efforts by captain Steven Davis and Stuart Dallas.

The opening goal came after good work by fullback Paddy McNair, who beat his man as he drove into the box before hammering a low cross to the near post, which had to be parried behind for a corner.

He stepped up and pulled the delivery to the edge of the box where it was met by captain Davis to drive a shot beyond Haimov - via a minor deflection off Dabbur - to make it 1-0 in the 13th minute.

4 minutes before the break, Northern Ireland grabbed a deserved second when Stuart Dallas volleyed home at the back post having connected with George Saville's cross.

Northern Ireland kept up the pressure and on the hour McNair was denied claims for a penalty, just before Dallas accidentally tested the keeper with a driven cross that was creeping into the top corner.

With 65 on the clock, Michael O'Neill handed a debut to former Crusaders winger Gavin Whyte who replaced Jordan Jones, as Conor Washington came on for Will Grigg.

Whyte took just 2 minutes to make his mark, in the right place to follow up and tap in a third after the keeper had saved an effort by Washington.