Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign ended in disappointment following a 1-1 draw with Romania in Belfast.
Relegation from Group B1 was already confirmed for Ian Baraclough's side earlier in the day after a UEFA panel awarded Romania a 3-0 win for their cancelled game against Norway.
However, they were on course for a much-needed victory when Liam Boyce bundled home from close range in the 56th minute.
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It was not to be though as the hosts failed to keep a clean sheet, Eric Bicfalvi grabbing Romania's equaliser with nine minutes left to play.
The draw means Northern Ireland, who will be playing in League C in the next edition of the tournament, are still waiting for their first victory in the Nations League, while Romania finish third in the group.
How Northern Ireland's Nations League campaign ended…
It was another bright start from Northern Ireland, with Paddy McNair's free-kick almost converted by Dan Ballard at the far post in the second minute, but Romania gradually began to get a foothold into the game.
Northern Ireland were creating the better chances though and Boyce should have done better with Matthew Kennedy's cross, but his header was deflected wide of the target.
The breakthrough eventually came in the 56th minute and it came from a well-worked set-piece.
A short corner was played to Michael Smith, who curled an inch-perfect cross to the far post where Boyce bundled the ball over the line for just his second international goal.
After doing all the hard work, they almost gifted an equaliser to the visitors when Bailey Peacock-Farrell came and failed to collect a free-kick, and the Burnley goalkeeper was grateful to see Iulian Cristea head wide in front of an open goal.
Romania eventually brought themselves level nine minutes from time. Florin Tanase got away from Ballard on the left and pulled the ball back for Bicfalvi to turn in at the near post and end a miserable week for Northern Ireland.
Attention will now turn to next year's World Cup qualifiers, after yet another Nations League campaign to forget.
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Baraclough: We have to look forward
Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough said:
"I'm really pleased with the way they went and applied themselves, they looked really solid and didn't give up too many chances. We could have been cleaner with the ball around the box but I'm really pleased with the way we went about it.
"We went with inexperience at the end and gave some people some game time and they will be so much better for it. Romania came here fresh, they didn't play at the weekend and we had one or two tired legs at the end. That's no criticism, it's been a tough 10 days. We're just over two weeks away from the World Cup qualifying draw and that will get the juices flowing. People will be excited about it.
"There's still disappointment a week away from going out of the Euros but we have to look forward. You can't turn the clock back so we'll really look forward to the World Cup campaign."
Boyce: We're disappointed with draw
Northern Ireland forward Liam Boyce to Sky Sports:
"The first half was not my best performance but it was good to get a goal.
"If I was a bit better holding the ball up in the first half we might have had more chances. I was grateful to get the goal but they started to put a bit of pressure on us and it told at the end.
"We had a few set-pieces set up and that was one we drew up at half-time from what we had seen in the first half. We couldn't have written it any better, Mick sent in a great ball and I just had to get on it.
"We are disappointed and sorry we didn't win the game. We wanted to get a good result, a good performance and something to build on to take into March. Hopefully we can get a good start."
Opta stats - Northern Ireland's wait for Nations League win continues
- Only Andorra (12) have played more UEFA Nations League matches without ever winning than Northern Ireland (P10 W0 D2 L8).
- Since winning each of their first three clashes with Romania between 1984 and 1994, Northern Ireland have failed to win any of the most recent five (D3 L2).
- Since keeping consecutive clean sheets against Malta (Sep 2019) and Faroe Islands (Oct 2019), Romania have conceded in each of their last 10 matches in all competitions (22 goals in total).
- Liam Boyce's two international goals for Northern Ireland have both come at Windsor Park, with this his first since June 2017 against New Zealand, ending a run of 17 games without finding the back of the net for his national side.
- Liam Boyce scored with Northern Ireland's only shot on target in the whole game (56th minute).
- Jonny Evans won his 89th International cap this evening making him the sixth most capped player in Northern Ireland's history.