Fleetwood Town winger makes his competitive Northern Ireland debut

The Fleetwood Town winger earned his second full cap, playing 78 minutes on his competitive debut, as Ian Baraclough’s side were beaten in front of a sell-out crowd at Windsor Park.

Baraclough had set his side a points target of 12 from their four fixtures this month, but Thursday’s result left them already facing an uphill task in their goal of promotion out of League C.

Tasos Bakasetas’ 39th-minute strike handed victory to the visitors, leaving Northern Ireland still to claim a win after 11 attempts in the Nations League.

A flat first half was largely passing without incident until Greece made the breakthrough six minutes before the interval.

Having collected Dimitrios Limnios’ pass inside, Bakasetas fired a low drive beyond keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell and into the corner of the net.

Giorgos Giakoumakis also headed tamely at Peacock-Farrell, moments after Gavin Whyte had spurned Northern Ireland’s only real chance at the other end.

Genuine opportunities were few and far between for the home team, Niall McGinn seeing a shot comfortably held before Kyle Lafferty brushed the roof of the net with a free-kick.

Northern Ireland are due to play their next match on Sunday with the first of two games in a week against Cyprus.

Sandwiched between those matches is next Thursday night’s trip to Kosovo, who posted a 2-0 victory against the Cypriots, also on Thursday.