After an extremely cagey opening 20 minutes that failed to produce a shot on target at either end, Northern Ireland thought they’d broken the deadlock and netted a first home goal since last November at the half’s midway point.
Isaac Price’s effort from outside the box looped up off Ethan Galbraith’s back into the path of Jamie Donley, who tucked home but saw his strike chalked off for offside. The contest exploded into life from there, with both goalkeepers called into action before the half-hour mark.
First, Anatoliy Trubin made a fantastic double save to deny efforts from Donley and Shea Charles in quick succession at the near post, before a Ukraine counter ended in an Oleksiy Kaschuk effort being kept out by Pierce Charles.
That preserved the Green and White Army’s unblemished record as the only side in the competition yet to concede a goal, but an expectant home crowd was still longing for a breakthrough by the interval.
Both sides remained steadfast in their defensive efforts after the restart, and though Northern Ireland were the more dangerous, tame efforts from Price and Galbraith were easily saved by Trubin.
The Ukraine stopper then turned a Trai Hume effort around the post, but from the subsequent corner, the hosts worked the ball to the edge of the box where Terry Devlin let fly and left Trubin motionless as he powered home a first-ever international goal.
Windsor Park erupted, and given Northern Ireland’s imperious defensive record and the fact that none of their last nine competitive games saw both teams score, Ukraine had a mountain to climb to keep their faint promotion hopes alive.
The visitors only really threatened a comeback in the 90th minute when Kaschuk’s cutback was swept goalwards by Danylo Sikan, but Charles made a phenomenal save to preserve victory for the hosts.
As a result, they head into a matchday six showdown with Ukraine, albeit without the suspended Donley, needing just to avoid defeat to climb into League A for the very first time.
A first away defeat in 90 minutes of 2026 means Ukraine are not yet safe from finishing bottom of the group and having to contest a relegation play-off, in which they’d be at risk of dropping into the third tier of the Nations League for the first time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Justin Devenny (Northern Ireland)
