Date: June 25, 2016

Result: Wales 1 Northern Ireland 0

Scorers:

Wales: McAuley 75 og
Northern Ireland: none

Venue: Parc des Princes, Paris

Match overview: 

An own goal by Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley gave a Wales a scrappy 1-0 win in Paris to take them into the quarter-finals as their historic run continued.

There were few chances in game in which Wales were contained by an industrious Northern Ireland side that was well drilled by manager Michael O’Neill and far more aware of how to nullify Welsh strengths than Russia had been in Wales’s last group game.

Wales claimed victory in all-British affair despite not winning a corner in the entire game. Sam Vokes headed wide from an Aaron Ramsey cross in one of the few quality moments of the second half, while Jamie Ward came closest for Northern Ireland with a shot from distance that stung the fingers of Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Northern Ireland keeper Michael McGovern did well to reach another fine free-kick from Gareth Bale in the second half  but he could do little about the cross from Bale that McAuley turned past him in the 75th minute as Wales reached the quarter-finals.

Key moment: 

Gareth McAuley turning Gareth Bale’s cross into his own net for the only goal of the game. McAuley had to intervene to prevent Bale’s excellent delivery from reaching Welsh striker Hal Robson-Kanu, who was closing in behind him.

Man of the match: 

Gareth Bale was schackled by Northern Ireland for much of the match but he was still got free to supply the dynamic cross that McAuley turned into his own net for the Welsh goal.

Matter of fact: 

This was the first encounter between two British teams in the knockout stages of a major tournament.

Talking point: 

In a game of few chances, there was more entertainment from the fans in the stands than the players on the pitch. Northern Ireland could claim to have been the better side after they restricted Wales to few chances by denying the Welsh time and space to build attacks. But the arrival of substitute Jonny Williams added more urgency to Wales’ game and he released Bale to supply the cross which McAuley turned into his own net.

Stats:

Goal attempts

Wales: 7

Northern Ireland: 6

Attempts on target

Wales: 1

Northern Ireland: 3

Corners

Wales: 0

Northern Ireland: 6

Line-ups:

Wales

01 Wayne Hennessey

02 Chris Gunter

03 Neil Taylor

04 Ben Davies

05 James Chester

06 Ashley Williams

07 Joe Allen

10 Aaron Ramsey

11 Gareth Bale

16 Joe Ledley (20 Jonny Williams 63)

18 Sam Vokes (09 Hal Robson-Kanu 55)

Starting formation: 3-5-2

Hennessey – Davies, A Williams, Chester – Gunter, Allen, Ledley, Ramsey, Taylor – Bale, Vokes

Northern Ireland

01 Michael McGovern

04 Gareth McAuley (21 Josh Magennis 84)

05 Jonny Evans

08 Steven Davis

10 Kyle Lafferty

13 Corry Evans

14 Stuart Dallas

16 Oliver Norwood (07 Niall McGinn 79)

18 Aaron Hughes

19 Jamie Ward (11 Conor Washington 69)

20 Craig Cathcart

Starting formation: 4-5-1

McGovern – Hughes, McAuley, J Evans, Cathcart – Ward, Davis, C Evans, Norwood, Dallas – Lafferty

Yellow cards:

Wales: Taylor 58, Ramsey 90

Northern Ireland: Dallas 44, David 67

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Eng)

Attendance: 44,342