The Independents would like to be the first to congratulate Northern Ireland in their victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina with a 4-3 win on penalties to go through to final of the Euro 2020 play-offs in a nail biting dramatic match.

Our Norn Iron heros won the shoot-out after an exciting match in Sarajevo which finished 1-1 after extra-time. We watched on the edge of our seats as Liam Boyce scored the winning penalty for Ian Baraclough’s men after an amazing set of saves from Bailey Peacock-Farrell against Haris Hajradinovic and Edin Visca who missed.

After a slow start Niall McGinn equalised for NI after Rade Krunic had opened the scoring.

After the Republic of Ireland failed to match Northern Ireland’s achievement we will now play Slovakia in the play-off final in November.

A great strategic approach by Baraclough saw him returning Boyce who had only come on as a substitute in the final minute of extra time, along with Conor Washington to give the strongest possible penalty line out.

In what was the first penalty shoot-out in NI’s history, Peacock-Farrell, who performed well during the match, dived to his left to deny Hajradinovic before Visca struck the crossbar.

Northern Ireland’s revival  began with McGinn’s equaliser eight minutes into the second half when the Aberdeen winger latched on to a long ball to make the most of a ricochet and bustle his way into the box before delivering a composed finish. The spirit and dedication our our team was on display tonight and we wish them well for the next big match