Charles nets last-gasp winner as Northern Ireland sneak past Georgia

[p]The early stages of the game were dominated by a series of scrappy midfield battles, with no shots attempted by either team inside the opening 20 minutes.[/p][p]The hosts began to enjoy more possession but continually struggled to pose any attacking threat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/northern-ireland/lQADNSWu/"]Northern Ireland[/a]’s well-organised defence. [/p][p]The first effort of any kind finally materialised after 25 minutes, and it should have given Michael O'Neill’s side the lead, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/charles-shea/8xIbHy74/"]Shea Charles[/a] steered his close-range header well wide of the target when he should have done a lot better.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/georgia/YVovjspA/"]Georgia[/a]’s best opportunity to take the lead before the interval fell to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kvernadze-giorgi/b7dng8al/"]Giorgi Kvernadze[/a] when his header following a corner was cleared away by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hume-trai/CfLIw4XG/"]Trai Hume[/a] just in front of the goal line.[/p][p]Ultimately, this was a dour first half with very little action as both teams repeatedly cancelled each other out.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="c6abfea3-c1a7-48ec-aacf-8c5556f0c5a8" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="7005cf78-5439-4466-8398-5634ba362450" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Willy Sagnol’s team showed far more urgency at the start of the second half and had a huge chance to edge in front after 53 minutes, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mikautadze-georges/QgN9t9CH/"]Georges Mikautadze[/a]’s eight-yard strike was superbly kept out by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/charles-pierce/0bqig2i7/"]Pierce Charles[/a].[/p][p]Drama struck shortly after the hour mark when the hosts were retrospectively awarded a penalty following VAR intervention, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lochoshvili-luka/fLyWlO5j/"]Luka Lochoshvili[/a] was adjudged to have been brought down by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ballard-daniel/b7is4eSG/"]Daniel Ballard[/a].[/p][p]Georgia captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kvaratskhelia-khvicha/bNuGt0hE/"]Khvicha Kvaratskhelia[/a] stepped up to take the spot-kick but saw his effort saved by Pierce Charles.[/p][p]Despite having to soak up a lot of pressure in the second half, the Green and White Army came desperately close to breaking the deadlock with a quarter of an hour remaining, as Shea Charles’ close-range strike forced an excellent stop from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mamardashvili-giorgi/lxnsUkIc/"]Giorgi Mamardashvili[/a] to keep the score level.[/p][p]At the other end, Pierce Charles was called into urgent action again with an impressive save to prevent [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kiteishvili-otar/QPyit5s0/"]Otar Kiteishvili[/a]’s rapid 20-yard strike from finding the back of the net.[/p][p][b]Just as it looked like the game was going to end goalless, a late surge of pressure saw Shea Charles grab a dramatic winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time.[/b][/p][embed guid="ec16329c-5f91-4fdc-b10f-a32b5396b2a6" url="https://x.com/NorthernIreland/status/2103545020464988599?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Following this result, Georgia’s four-game unbeaten run has come to an end, and they will look to return to winning ways when they host Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League on Monday.[/p][p]Meanwhile, Northern Ireland will be hoping to secure back-to-back victories with a win over Hungary on the same night[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/charles-pierce/0bqig2i7/"]Pierce Charles[/a] (Northern Ireland)[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/georgia-YVovjspA/northern-ireland-lQADNSWu/?mid=jclv1hV8"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p][infobox id="5a8fbd57-e97c-4bdc-9f6b-fb0fb254e893" /]