Lawrie Sanchez’s Northern Ireland came from behind to manage a well-deserved draw against Portugal at a soggy Windsor Park in Belfast. The Northern Irish, still on a high after beating England 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in September, ended a memorable year on a high with a 1-1 draw at home to a World Cup bound Portugal.

With Sanchez missing the services of a number of more established faces the Northern Ireland boss was forced to reshuffle his positioning, with veteran Keith Gillespie starting at right-back while Sheffield United’s Chris Brunt occupied his usual midfield berth.

As might have been expected the Portuguese started swiftly with Petit and Tiago forcing Maik Taylor into action inside the opening ten minutes, the latter with a 30-yard drive which the Northern Ireland skipper did well to tip over.

Portugal were flexing their muscles, and on 19 minutes the Birmingham City keeper Taylor, who was on stunning form for the Northern Irish, showed sharp reflexes to keep the scores level with a terrific save from Costinha’s downward header, and again just after the half-hour to block Petit’s effort from the edge of the area.

Northern Ireland did have chances of their own, notably a Chris Brunt drive which was deflected out for a corner. Colin Murdock might also have done better with an earlier tame header.

The visitors deservedly took the lead four minutes from half-time, somewhat fortunately, when a quickly taken Tiago free-kick was knocked into the area by Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and deflected past Maik Taylor by Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan for an own goal.

Steve Jones really should have equalised for the home side a couple of minutes later, when he found himself clear at the back post from a Stuart Elliott cross only to head straight at Portugal’s debutante keeper Paulo Santos for an easy save.

Against the run of play, Northern Ireland equalised in the 54th minute with a backward looping header from Luton Towns Warren Feeney which sailed over Portuguese keeper Santos into the far corner from Keith Gillespie’s cross. It was a special moment for Feeney, who only got the starting call because Leeds striker David Healy was out through injury.

With a rash of substitutions following the equaliser the game lost a lot of its momentum, although Portugal did threaten through Benfica striker Nuno Gomes and Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho.

However Northern Ireland held out to record a famous draw against one of the best sides in Europe, and yet again the streets of Belfast went into party mode.

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