Belarus 0-1 Northern Ireland: Late Paddy McNair strike makes it four wins from four

Northern Ireland remain three points clear at the top of Euro 2020 qualifying Group C after Paddy McNair's 86th-minute strike gave them a 1-0 victory over Belarus in Borisov.

McNair cut inside and drilled a low right-foot shot past Aleksandr Gutor for his first international goal.

NI face double headers against Germany and the Netherlands in the autumn.

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The second-placed Germans beat Estonia 8-0 on Tuesday to make it three wins out of three, with the Dutch having picked up three points from their opening two fixtures.

Three-team battle for qualification

It now looks like a three-way battle for the two qualifying spots on offer for next summer's championships.

Both Estonia and Belarus are out of contention, having failed to pick up a point from a combined total of seven games played.

O'Neill's side began their ultimately successful bid to reach the Euro 2016 finals with three successive wins in September and October 2014 but have now gone one better to lie on 12 points ahead of their four remaining games.

Germany will host the Netherlands in the next set of group games on 6 September, before Joachim Low's side travel to face NI in Belfast three days later, the same night that the Dutch are away to Estonia.

Northern Ireland will finish their campaign with matches away to the Dutch in October, then at home to the Netherlands and away to Germany in November.

Success on their travels

Northern Ireland had failed to secure a win or score a goal in their last seven away matches before beating Estonia 2-1 on Saturday, but this triumph in Belarus gave them back-to-back qualifying victories on the road for only the second time - their previous consecutive away wins coming against Latvia and Lithuania in 1993.

O'Neill's men are unbeaten in 10 European Championship qualifying games, stretching back to their previous campaign, and have defeated Belarus in all three meetings between the countries.

Having seen off both Estonia and Belarus at Windsor Park in March, NI have now beaten both nations away from home to give themselves a fighting chance of making the Euro finals for only the second time.

The four successes in a row come on the back of four losses from four outings in the Nations League at the end of last year.

In contrast, the Belarusians' hopes of qualification rest on a side-door entry as one of the four Nations League winners.

Their promotion from League D to League C in the inaugural competition means that they are in the play-offs for a slot at the tournament which will be played in various countries across Europe.

O'Neill rings the changes

O'Neill chose to start all three players who made such a big impact as substitutes in Estonia - Jordan Jones, plus goalscorers Josh Magennis and Conor Washington - with midfielder Corry Evans also coming into the line-up.

George Saville, Stuart Dallas and Liam Boyce were named as substitutes, with the former two being introduced off the bench in the second half.

Belarus belied the fact that they lie 48 places behind their opponents in the Fifa rankings, 33 as opposed to 81, by enjoying more of the possession in the first half but the only clear-cut chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Washington, who flashed a right-foot shot from 20 yards wide of the post in the fourth minute.

The lively Washington saw an early second-half effort comfortably dealt with by Gutor, who also parried Saville's drive, while Michael Smith was wide with two late strikes on goal.

Igor Stasevich's right-foot shot was saved low down to his left by Bailey Peacock-Farrell in the 70th minute but McNair's sweetly-struck late goal on his 29th appearance sparked wild celebrations among the travelling support in the Borisov Arena.

The Middlebrough player found the net after accepting a pass from Jones, who impressed throughout with his energy and attacking threat in the hot and humid conditions.