North will shake off self-pity, says Craigan

Northern Ireland's Stephen Craigan is convinced the team will shake off any feelings of self-pity by Wednesday.

The North go into the match against Greece at Windsor Park still looking for a victory in their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign after they were stunned by a 1-0 defeat by Armenia in Yerevan on Saturday.

The Partick defender said: “It was a big disappointment for all of us but I’m sure our mood will be positive against Greece.

“We played a lot of good football and were really unlucky not to get something from the game.”

Armenia won the match through a goal from Artur Petrosyan after he had skipped away from Craigan, making his first start for Northern Ireland, but he was absolved from blame by manager Sammy McIlroy.

Craigan said: “It was a personal milestone for me but I would have given it up for a victory.

“I had been booked earlier and the Armenian guy was really flying, so it was a difficult call as to whether to challenge him.

“The defeat put a bit of a damper on the day. It was very emotional for me, making my first start.

“I got a lot of text messages from family and friends. I was very proud running out, the stadium was impressive and so was the atmosphere.”

McIlroy looks set to stick with Craigan on Wednesday even though Sunderland’s George McCartney is linking up with the squad after he withdrew from the game against Armenia for personal reasons.

McIlroy took his team for a light training session yesterday after a marathon flight from the Armenian capital.

He knows the statistics make grim reading. Northern Ireland are without a victory in 17 months and without a goal in seven games.

They should have wrapped the match up by half-time but Paul McVeigh, James Quinn and David Healy were all out of luck.

McIlroy said: “I know I will be severely criticised in some quarters but there was little wrong in the way we went about the game.

“Losing to Armenia was a bitter pill to swallow. I really thought this would be when we would end our drought but we didn’t take our chances.”