Northern Ireland win denies Belgium

Victory proved in vain for Northern Ireland despite denying Belgium first place in UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round Group 4.

Liam McAlinden's goal just after the break earned the hosts all three points but Spain's 2-0 win against Poland meant they topped the group in a head-to-head tie-break with Belgium and Northern Ireland, who all ended on six points. Belgium finished second.

Striker McAlinden tested Belgium goalkeeper Sven Dhoest twice in the 16th minute as but at the other end Benito Raman, the scorer of Friday's winner against Spain, shot over on the break. Dhoest was alert at the start of the second half to keep out Ryan Kennedy's long-range effort only to be beaten by McAlinden two minutes later after a great passing move. Belgium only needed a point to confirm a place in Liechtenstein in May but could not force an equaliser.

McAlinden said: "We thought at the start of the tournament that Belgium and Poland were the teams to beat and then we lost against Spain and knew then we had a get a result today and we did. I was good in patches thought I scored a good goal, we tried to play good football. People don't expect us to play like that but we did today."

Belgium defender Jannes Van Steenkiste added: "We are very disappointed because we were close to the European Championship and now we lost the game so we are very disappointed. We weren't lucky enough to score and Northern Ireland were a little bit harder and faster than us, the second ball always fell to them. We got a lot of experience in this tournament and we won two matches against Poland and Spain, and if you win against Spain you get good credit."