Northern Ireland fans react to shock home defeat by Kazakhstan

With statistics showing just a single shot on target by Northern Ireland against a side placed 50 spots below in the world rankings, it marked a night of frustration in Belfast for the sold-out Windsor Park crowd and those watching from home.

Fresh off the back of a 1-0 loss last Friday in Denmark, Northern Ireland now sit on three points from the opening four games of the EURO 2024 qualifying campaign.​

Supporters across social media reflected on the differences between the current panel and O’Neill’s options within the squad that reached a first-ever European Championships in 2016.

Despite widespread disappointment in the result, some notes of optimism opted to focus on the potential future development of O’Neill’s younger players.

@ourweecountry: Shocking! Have a great summer #GAWA.

@crysdal: Seriously need to work on all the set-pieces as well - something we used to be one of the best at.

@43mccauley: Not disappointing, it’s embarrassing.

@JoshuaRamsey01: We miss an in-form striker like Lafferty was in the Euro 2016 campaign, a decent midfielder like Norwood, McCauley who could score from a set-piece and Brunt’s amazing set-plays.

@jamiepatts99: Very, very poor night. Final ball is shocking, not that we have any real threat up top anyway. Things certainly much better when Lavery and Conor Mac came on - campaign over, best use the remainder to work out his best 11.

@DarylHaire: Disappointment? Seen it coming, and was resigned to it, from about 20 minutes in.

@Kyle_lemon02: Going to be a long long time before we get that 2016 feeling back.

@Gary_Crawf: Tough one to take. Davis, Dallas, Washington, Bradley, Ballard, Whyte, McGuinness etc all injured. Can’t expect young lads to carry that team. On to the next one. #GAWA

@chewielouie80: We were rock bottom before. But it will come. Not this year anyway.