Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said Tom Atcheson’s red card “killed the game” during their 1-0 friendly win over Guinea.
Atcheson had earlier marked his first Northern Ireland start in perfect fashion, scoring the only goal after just nine minutes by finishing Isaac Price’s cross.
However, the Blackburn Rovers defender was later dismissed in the second half for bringing down Abdoul Karim Traoré as the last man. Despite going down to ten men, Northern Ireland held on to secure the victory and build momentum ahead of Monday’s clash with World Cup-bound France.
“The objective was to get minutes into players, and we managed to get basically everyone on the pitch, which was nice,” O’Neill told BBC Sport NI.
“The sending off killed the game for the last 20 to 25 minutes, but the lads showed great character to see it through and win it.
“I haven’t seen it back yet. The player’s touch was a bit wide of goal, and I’m not sure how much contact there was, but it did look a bit harsh at the time.”
