Northern Ireland 1 Morocco 1:A LATE PENALTY from Rory Patterson spared Northern Ireland goalkeeper Alan Blayney's blushes last night. Substitute Blayney handed the visitors the lead on a wet and windy night at Windsor Park when he miscontrolled a backpass and his clearance rebounded into the net off Arsenal's Marouane Chamakh.
Blayney partially redeemed himself by tipping a Adil Hermach drive onto the bar and Patterson stepped up to force a draw after Josh McQuoid was fouled five minutes from time.
Chris Brunt won possession from the kick-off, broke forward and fed John Gorman out wide, but the Wolves man’s cross was claimed by Nadir Lamyaghri.
Brunt was intent on impressing but shot well over from distance. Northern Ireland survived a scare midway through the half as Younes Belhanda slipped Youssef Hadji into the box but the midfielder shot straight at Jonny Tuffey.
Northern Ireland made four changes for the second half, with Nigel Worthington bringing off Aaron Hughes and Brunt, as expected. Pat McCourt was also forced off with a dead leg and Linfield’s Blayney was also introduced. Michael O’Connor, McQuoid and Rory McArdle were the other players to come on.
O’Connor flashed a free-kick wide but two of the others may have wished they stayed on the bench.
McArdle played Blayney into trouble with a back pass which the goalkeeper tried to kick away as Chamakh advanced but the Arsenal striker was too quick and the clearance rebounded off the Moroccan and into the net.
The game appeared to be winding down when McQuoid won a penalty from a corner after being pulled down by Rachid Soulaimani. Plymouth’s Patterson held his nerve to score from the penalty spot.
NORTHERN IRELAND:Tuffey (Blayney 46), Hodson, McGivern (Coates 62), Evans, Hughes (McArdle 46), McGinn (Magennis 69), McCourt (O'Connor 46), Patterson, John Gorman, Brunt (McQuoid 47).
MOROCCO: Lamyaghri, Soulaimani, El Kaddouri, Kantari, Mehdi Benatia (Mohamed Berrabeh 78), Hermach (El Ahmadi 89), Belhanda (Benzoukane 75), Kharja, Hadji (El Zhar 80), Chadli, Chamakh (El Arabi 71). Subs not used: Mohamadina, Ainy,
