Isaac Price’s hat-trick powered Northern Ireland to a stunning 5-0 win over Bulgaria that sent them top of their Nations League group.
After battering Belarus without reward in the opening 45 minutes of Saturday’s goalless draw, Northern Ireland took their frustrations out on Bulgaria as Price became the first Northern Ireland player to hit a treble since David Healy in a 4-1 win over Liechtenstein in March 2007.
After the Standard Liege forward got the opening two, Brodie Spencer’s shot hit a post and rebounded in off Bulgaria goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to make it 3-0 at the break.
A 5 star performance from Michael O''Neill''s men 👏 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/7ldylXQYmW
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) October 15, 2024
Price completed his hat-trick with the best goal of the night, a rising shot from the edge of the box, before Josh Magennis came off the bench to hit a late fifth.
The last time Northern Ireland won 5-0 at home, George Best scored a hat-trick against Cyprus in April 1971.
With Belarus and Luxembourg drawing 1-1 in Hungary, Northern Ireland sit top of League C Group 3 by one point before facing those two teams in their final games next month.
Bulgaria arrived in Belfast unbeaten in nine games under manager Ilian Iliev, including a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in Plovdiv last month, but that came to a sudden halt as Michael O’Neill’s men made it four wins in their last five at Windsor Park.
O’Neill brought in Ali McCann, Dion Charles and Spencer to lower the average age of his starting eleven to just 22 years and seven months, and it paid off as the latter two starred in the first half.
Fifteen minutes in, Charles controlled Spencer’s header and then spun away from Zhivko Atanasov, playing a low ball across for Price to score Northern Ireland’s first goal in 269 minutes of football.
Charles might have been disappointed not to start ahead of Jamie Reid against Belarus having scored six goals in 12 for Bolton this season and looked charged up, twisting clear of Atanasov again in the 22nd minute before Simeon Petrov blocked his shot.
The second goal arrived in the 29th minute. Spencer burst down the left once more and fed Charles. He was fouled by Georgi Kostadinov as he tried to turn, but before Jerome Brisard could blow for a penalty, Price hit home via a deflection off Petrov.
Windsor Park was rocking and erupted three minutes later as Spencer cut in from the left and hit a low shot from 20 yards which struck a post and then rebounded in off hapless Aberdeen stopper Mitov.
The mood threatened to change five minutes before the break when Martin Minchev tumbled under a soft challenge from Eoin Toal, with Brisard pointing to the spot to the bemusement of the crowd.
Toal seemed to jar his knee as he went down, and adding insult to injury, before the Bolton defender limped off – replaced by Ciaron Brown – he was shown a yellow card that rules him out of next month’s game against Belarus.
But having been gifted a route back into the game, Bulgaria failed to take it as Kiril Despodov smacked his penalty against the crossbar.
Isaac Price ⚽️⚽️⚽️#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/CzmMEUtJTm
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) October 15, 2024
Dion Charles thought he had a fourth in the 68th minute, sweeping in after captain Conor Bradley’s shot was cleared off the line following a superb long pass from goalkeeper Pierce Charles, but VAR ruled it out for offside.
The crowning moment came in the 81st minute when Shea Charles charged forward and then slipped the ball to Price, who took a quick look up and arrowed a shot into the top right-hand corner of the net for his fifth international goal.
Northern Ireland were still not done and in the 89th minute Paul Smyth picked out fellow substitute Magennis, who powered home a shot off the underside of the crossbar.
Interim boss Stephen Frail expects Motherwell to appoint a new manager next week and admits their first job will be to lift the players’ confidence after a 3-0 mauling at home to Ross County.A double from Ronan Hale and Connor Randall’s last-minute strike secured an impressive victory for the Staggies at Fir Park.Defeat sees the Steelmen drop into the bottom half of the Premiership tab...
Mark Hughes heaped praise on goalkeeper Gabe Breeze after Carlisle picked up a vital point in the League Two relegation battle with a goalless draw against in-form Colchester at Brunton Park.Breeze made two excellent saves from Lyle Taylor as the Cumbrians ended a four-game losing run and the former Man City boss was astounded by the 21-year-old’s performance.He said: “The game had som...
Chesterfield boss Paul Cook launched a scathing attack on his play-off hopefuls after they surrendered an early lead to lose 3-1 at Sky Bet League Two table-toppers Walsall.The Spireites enjoyed a rapid start when Jamie Grimes’ eighth-minute header put them ahead against a wobbling Walsall side, who were winless in five matches with the chasing pack closing in.However, Bim Pepple and Dylan D...
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has allayed fears of an injury scare to top scorer Erling Haaland ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid.Haaland went down clutching his leg in the latter stages of the champions’ 4-0 Premier League thrashing of Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and was immediately substituted.Losing the Norwegian would be a major blow to ...
Rotherham manager Steve Evans described Thomas Parsons’ performance as “atrocious” after the referee awarded a stoppage-time penalty from which Reading snatched a 2-1 victory in League One.Reading had led 1-0 at half-time through top scorer Harvey Knibbs but Sam Nombe levelled for Rotherham from a spot-kick in the 57th minute.With the game heading for a draw, Parsons adjudged Mil...
Michael Flynn believes his team can make a charge towards the League Two play-offs places after watching them come from 2-0 down to beat Barrow 3-2 at home.Matty Taylor scored twice before fellow substitute Ashley Hay hit the winner as the Robins continued their perfect home record in 2025.Cheltenham climbed to 13th in the table and sit eight points off seventh-placed Crewe with two games in hand....
Birmingham manager Chris Davies praised Jay Stansfield’s work ethic after he lit up St Andrew’s with the only goal of a 1-0 win to sink play-off chasing Charlton.Stansfield’s 23rd-minute strike stretched City’s lead to nine points ahead of second-placed Wycombe, with Blues boasting a game in hand.Victory was City’s 30th in all competitions as they extended their unbea...
Andoni Iraola refused to get carried away after Bournemouth fans were left dreaming of a potential Champions League adventure following a first league double over south-coast rivals Southampton.Travelling Cherries fans chanted of playing in European football’s premier competition next season after their side soared to fifth spot in the Premier League table thanks to a deserved 3-1 success at...
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup praised his side for fighting back to draw 1-1 at Hull after he demanded “I want to see my football team back”.The Norwich boss had some tough words for his team as they trailed 1-0 at half-time to the relegation-threatened side, including for Kellen Fisher – but the player then delivered the assist for Josh Sargent’s equaliser.The Un...
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says Jota has a chance of starting against Bayern Munich after scoring and impressing in a 3-0 victory over Dundee United.Jota earned the club’s man-of-the-match award after cutting in from the left and curling home from 18 yards to double the lead given to the hosts by another impressive finish from Callum McGregor.The Portuguese winger has now started two gam...
