Luxembourg’s Mathias Janisch celebrates scoring the winning goal.

Luxembourg 3 Northern Ireland 2

Luxembourg had won just three World Cup qualifiers in their history before this match, the last of them at home in 1972, but were full value for three points as Northern Ireland turned in a turgid display.

Martin Paterson had put his side ahead against the run of play and Gareth McAuley looked to have snatched a draw in the 82nd minute, but in between goals from Aurelien Joachim and Stefano Bensi gave a fairer representation of the match.

So porous was the visiting defence that a winning goal felt almost inevitable and it arrived when Janisch poked his shot through a mass of bodies in the 87th minute.

For Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill it will surely feel like much of the good work achieved in beating Russia last month and running Portugal close last week has now evaporated.

Russia beat Israel 3-1 to overtake Portugal at the top of Group F and move a step closer to the finals with their fate in their own hands.

The result means Portugal, captained by Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, now face the prospect of a play-off to reach the finals in Brazil in 2014.