O'Neill 'baffled' by refereeing after Northern Ireland's 1-0 Nations League win in Tbilisi
Northern Ireland beat Georgia 1-0 in Tbilisi on Friday in a Nations League match, with Shea Charles scoring a 99th-minute winner, and manager Michael O'Neill said he was "baffled" by some of the refereeing decisions.
The victory was Northern Ireland's first ever away win in the Nations League. Before Shea Charles's late strike, goalkeeper Pierce Charles saved a controversial penalty from Georgia captain Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and an appeal by Shea was waved away at the other end; Orel Grinfeeld also declined to award a free-kick after substitute Ceadach O'Neill was brought down and a subsequent phase of play left defender Daniel Ballard injured.
After a drab first half the match improved after the interval and the first major incident came in the 65th minute when Ballard was adjudged to have fouled Luka Lochoshvili following a VAR review, resulting in the spot-kick which Pierce Charles saved from Paris St-Germain winger Kvaratskhelia. Pierce's save kept the score level until the late winner and Shea Charles's 99th-minute strike secured the 1-0 result for Northern Ireland in Tbilisi.
O'Neill said his side had to show resilience in the second half and criticised some of the match officiating. "In the second half we had to show a lot of resilience," O'Neill told BBC Sport NI. "Not only against the opposition, who were very good in the second half when they got Kvaratskhelia in the game a lot more, but some of the decisions that went against us. "I was really disappointed in that side of things with how the game was refereed."
The manager outlined several specific incidents that angered him, including an 88th-minute incident when Northern Ireland felt they should have had a penalty and the non-award of a foul on Ceadach O'Neill after he came on. "At times it didn't go our way. I've not seen the incident back but to me it seemed incredibly harsh to give a penalty for that. The guy was nowhere near the ball to head it. "We feel aggrieved that we didn't get one at the other end. The foul on Ceadach when he came on the pitch causes Dan to get injured. "I was just baffled by the quality of the refereeing," he added.
O'Neill also confirmed the injury sustained by defender Daniel Ballard and provided the manager's assessment of his condition. "You saw the nature of how he pulled up. It's a hamstring," he said. "We'll scan him tomorrow but he's certainly not going to be available for the next three games."
O'Neill stated Ballard will miss Northern Ireland's next three fixtures in the international window, against Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia, with a scan scheduled the following day to assess the hamstring injury.
