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Northern Ireland were left frustrated in a 0-0 draw at home to Hungary that looked to be there for the taking.<\/p>\n
Patrick Kelly twice went close in the first half and Isaac Price was denied by Balazs Toth late on, but Northern Ireland could not find a goal which would have made it a perfect start to the campaign in Group B2 of the Nations League.<\/p>\n
They looked the better side against higher-ranked opposition who struggled to create chances until the latter stages of a night when Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai’s most notable contribution was to charge up the Windsor Park crowd.<\/p>\n
There were nervous moments in the closing stages as Ruairi McConville made a key block from Willi Orban and Pierce Charles saved from Alex Toth to preserve his fifth clean sheet in seven competitive appearances for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
It means Michael O’Neill’s side have lost only one of their last 10 games in Belfast, and they looked resolute again with Hungary managing only one shot on target.<\/p>\n
The major frustration for O’Neill will be the number of yellow cards shown by referee Ricardo De Burgos, with four Northern Ireland players – Shea Charles, Jamie Donley, Isaac Price and Ethan Galbraith – going in the book along with the manager himself.<\/p>\n
Coming off the back of Friday’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Tbilisi and enjoying the roar of a Windsor Park crowd for the first time in 315 days, Northern Ireland were quick to get at Hungary with a strong press, picking off hurried passes from the visiting defence.<\/p>\n
That led to chances for the busy Galbraith and Price early on before Trai Hume sent a shot from the edge of the area narrowly wide.<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland’s best two chances of the first half both came for Kelly. Just after the half-hour mark, Price slipped it through and the Barnsley midfielder tried to chip Blackburn’s Balazs Toth but could not get enough height on the shot with the goal gaping.<\/p>\n
Then Tom Atcheson flicked on a Ciaron Brown long throw, and although Shea Charles could not reach the ball as he tussled with Milos Kerkez, it fell for an off-balance Kelly who looped it up on to the top of the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Hungary were not enjoying Northern Ireland’s physical approach as they struggled to threaten and tempers began to fray.<\/p>\n
After Donley became the third home player to be booked O’Neill also saw yellow for his protests and the half ended in confrontation after Charles left Daniel Lukacs in a heap challenging for a high ball.<\/p>\n
Hungary began to get forward more after the break. Schafer sent a snapshot wide inside the box, then missed the target from long range after a short free-kick before Donat Barany headed over from a corner.<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland were struggling to get forward as they had in the first half, but from a free-kick pumped into the box Price spun away from Kerkez before seeing his shot saved at the near post.<\/p>\n
At the other end, McConville threw himself in front of a close-range strike from Orban and Charles repelled a powerful strike from Bournemouth’s Alex Toth as time ticked down.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n