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Northern Ireland national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Nov 16, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
Netherlands national football team

0-0

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Steven Davis insists Netherlands antics did not affect missed penalty

Davis sent his 32nd minute spot-kick well over.

Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis made no excuses for his missed penalty after Saturday's 0-0 draw with Holland ended any hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2020.

There was no dream send-off for manager Michael O'Neill in what stands to be his final game in charge at Windsor Park as Davis sent his 32nd minute spot-kick well over and the match finished goalless following a poor second half, though Northern Ireland have the consolation of a play-off place.

Davis had faced a long wait for take his penalty, with Holland arguing with referee Szymon Marciniak over his decision to penalise somewhat harshly a handball by Joel Veltman before goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen walked off his line to face Davis before he took it.

Northern Ireland v Netherlands – UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying – Group C – Windsor Park
Steven Davis sends his penalty over the crossbar (Liam McBurney/PA)

O'Neill was left frustrated by Holland's antics but Davis, making his 116th appearance to overtake David Beckham as the UK's most capped midfielder, said it made no difference.

"That's all part of the game," the Rangers midfielder said. "No excuses from me. I didn't feel in my head that any of that affected me. Unfortunately I just put too much on it.

"I watched clips before the game and I thought he went quite early so the idea was to hit it down the middle and I hit it a little bit too much down the middle. It was huge disappointment because it was a great opportunity to get us in front.

"I had to get on with the game after that happened. It's a huge disappointment because we all wanted that big result and a big scalp to take it into the final game. Unfortunately we couldn't do it."

O'Neill plans to take charge of March's play-offs alongside his new duties as Stoke boss, but with the draw likely to send Northern Ireland on the road, this was probably his Windsor Park farewell.

He stepped on to the pitch to applaud the fans at full-time but quickly went over to put an arm around his forlorn-looking captain.

"Michael didn't say anything to me," said Davis. "We didn't need any words. If this was to be Michael's last game at Windsor Park – obviously we don't know where we will be playing in the play-offs – I would loved to have got that big win for him but unfortunately we missed it.

"It's probably the story of the games against the bigger nations us not taking our chances. It feels like a missed opportunity."

Northern Ireland wrap up their Group C campaign away to Germany in Frankfurt on Tuesday night, though there is little now riding on the game with Germany assured of their place, and one eye will be on next week's play-off draw.

"While we are disappointed now we will look back on this match and take a lot of positives from it," Davis added.

"Whatever way the Germany game ends up we will look forward to the play-offs after that and hopefully the draw will be kind to us.

"It will be interesting to see who we get and where we will be playing. It's a quick turnaround in the games if we do win the first one so it is something to look forward to."

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Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill on October 10, 2019
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Michael O'Neill rues "missed opportunity" in Netherlands draw
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Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

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Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

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Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

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Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

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Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

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Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

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Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

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Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

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Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100

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