Northern Ireland’s qualifying loss to Germany won't dent confidence says Ethan Galbraith
Ethan Galbraith described Northern Ireland’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Germany as the toughest result this young group has had to swallow yet, but insisted it would do nothing to dent confidence.
Nick Woltemade’s somewhat fortunate 31st-minute goal, which went in off the Newcastle striker’s shoulder from a corner, settled Monday night’s hard-fought contest at Windsor Park in which Northern Ireland pushed the four-time world champions right up to a final whistle they felt came too soon.
Galbraith was among a number of Northern Ireland players to have a sniff of a late equaliser but they could not find the golden opportunity they needed to take what would have been a deserved point.
“It’s just pure disappointment,” Galbraith said. “I think you could probably see the reaction was off at the end. Obviously it’s horrible not to win the game, the way we played.
“The second half especially, I thought near the end it was one-way traffic. It’s a tough one to take.”
Michael O’Neill had described it as the sort of game that would be decided either by a moment of brilliance or a freak goal, and it was more of the latter as Woltemade failed to make a clean connection with David Raum’s corner but did enough for his first international goal regardless.
“We’re big on our set-pieces and stuff, so it is a disappointing goal,” Galbraith said. “I don’t think they cut through us as much. It’s just really disappointing that they got something.
“Sometimes a bit of luck goes against you. Really, really disappointing.”
Defeat leaves Northern Ireland three points behind Germany and Slovakia going into their final two Group A fixtures next month, away to Slovakia in Kosice before Luxembourg visit Windsor Park.
“Nothing changes from our side,” Galbraith added. “We’ll go into the games with full confidence and get as many points as we can.”
Unfortunately for Galbraith, the Swansea midfielder will not be able to play in Kosice, having picked up a booking for a foul on Aleksandar Pavlovic in first-half stoppage-time that will see him suspended for the next game.
Conor Bradley missed Monday’s match after collecting his second yellow card of the campaign in Friday’s 2-0 win over Slovakia, when the connection between the Liverpool defender and Galbraith was key.
Northern Ireland will now be without that partnership for a second-straight game.
“It’s a horrendous thing,” Galbraith said of his yellow card. “I think you’ve seen it with Conor the other night. You do have it in the back of your mind the whole game.
“It’s one of the ones that was avoidable as well. I took the heavy touch and I’ve gone to play the ball again and maybe I did catch him – it’s frustrating.”