Isaac Price made it five goals in his last four games for Northern Ireland as Michael O’Neill’s side earned a creditable 1-1 friendly draw with Switzerland in Belfast.
Price, who last year became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in Northern Ireland colours, fired the hosts in front 16 minutes in with a fine curling shot before Vincent Sierro headed Switzerland level 12 minutes later.
It might have been better if Price had converted a golden chance at the start of the season half but, as O’Neill continues to build towards the World Cup qualifying campaign to come later in the year, this was a positive result against a nation ranked 20th in the world.
It’s all over in Belfast! Thanks for your support, GAWA 🙌🏻🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/yyV89zgWYb
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) March 21, 2025
A young Northern Ireland side, who will be up against Slovakia, Luxembourg and either Germany or Italy when the campaign begins in September, looked confident and composed against higher-ranked opposition, even if the Swiss side were missing the likes of Manuel Akanji and Granit Xhaka themselves.
Northern Ireland were quickly on to the front foot as Paul Smyth and Ethan Galbraith combined well but Smyth could not get enough power on his shot from a tight angle.
Lee Bonis began his first international start by earning a yellow card less than five minutes in, leading with an arm on Cedric Zesiger but made a more positive contribution soon after, beating Stefan Gartenmann to a long ball before being dragged down by the Switzerland debutant on the edge of the box.
From the resulting free-kick, Shea Charles rolled the ball to George Saville, who stopped it for Price to rifle beyond Gregor Kobel, a seventh international goal for West Brom’s January signing.
Price then almost freed Bonis with a superb ball into the channel, but Zesiger did just enough to deny the ADO Den Haag forward a clear sight of goal.
When Switzerland levelled it came against the run of play. Ricardo Rodriguez, still the pantomime villain after his penalty settled the controversial World Cup qualifying play-off between these nations in 2017, sent in a corner and nobody picked up the run of Sierro, who gratefully headed in.
It was the first goal Northern Ireland had conceded at Windsor Park since October 2023, and after it the Swiss began to exert a little more pressure, with Saville making a strong block to keep out a shot from Leeds defender Isaac Schmidt.
Price should have put Northern Ireland back in front a couple of minutes into the second half. Shea Charles sent in an excellent free-kick from the right wing and Price got free of his man, only to awkwardly turn it over with the goal gaping.
Jamie Donley came on to make his debut in a double substitution just before the hour, with Dale Taylor also on for Bonis and Smyth. After Justin Devenny and another debutant, Terry Devlin, also came on, eight of Northern Ireland’s 11 players were aged 21 or under – the average age of the side just 22.
Donley soon had a chance to mark his debut with a goal in the 75th minute but his near-post header from Devenny’s corner was palmed over by Kobel.
At the other end, Pierce Charles made a smart save at his near post to keep out a firm header from Swiss substitute Andi Zeqiri as the contest ended all-square.
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