Gareth McAuley scored his second international goal to put Northern Ireland in front in their Euro 2012 qualifier in Serbia but couldn’t prevent his side from falling to a 2-1 defeat. The central defender was winning his 27th cap.

McAuley headed home West Brom midfielder Chris Brunt’s freekick on the right five minutes before half-time but the Serbians got on top in the second period and goals from Marko Pantelić and Zoran ToÅ¡ić saw them to the win.

The match was played in an almost empty stadium, Serbian fans having been banned due to the crowd trouble at their game against Italy. The only supporters present were 265 who had travelled from Northern Ireland.

Elsewhere, Tommy Smith picked up his ninth cap and a yellow card as New Zealand drew 1-1 in a friendly in China. The centre-half is on loan with Colchester until the end of the season.

On-loan striker Tamás Priskin was a 79th minute sub for Hungary as they lost 4-0 to Holland in Budapest. While Priskin was winning his 31st cap, Blues keeper Márton Fülöp was left on the bench throughout.

Town had four players in the Republic of Ireland U21 side which conceded two injury time goals to lose 2-0 in Portugal in a friendly.

Keeper Ian McLoughlin, who is currently on loan at Stockport, played the first half, as did midfielder Shane O’Connor, who was replaced by fellow Blue Conor Hourihane at half-time. Striker Ronan Murray, a Torquay loan player at present, came on in the 77th minute.

O’Connor and Murray were making their U21 debuts, while Hourihane was picking his fifth cap and McLoughlin his second.

Meanwhile, loan defender Darren O'Dea is to start for the Republic of Ireland senior side in Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia in Dublin (Sky Sports One/HD1 7.15pm). The Celtic man will be winning his fifth cap.

Domestically, Bermudian winger Reggie Lambe made his debut for loan club Bristol Rovers, coming on as a 62nd minute sub in their 2-2 home draw with Peterborough United.

Photo: Action Images

Sindre94 added 22:06 - Mar 25 great goal by macca. Keep it up. COYB
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WREXHAM_BLUE added 22:06 - Mar 25 Cracking goal though! Well done GMc.
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corshamblue added 22:06 - Mar 25 Macca, brilliant header mate. Gutted on the loss. Delighted for you all the same. Nee Probs.
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tractorblue99 added 22:07 - Mar 25 A header! Never seen that before from you macca! ;-) sign him up!
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corshamblue added 22:08 - Mar 25 PJ .. Sign him Up ... PJ, PJ Sign him Up ....
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DiamondGezzer added 06:30 - Mar 26 Wonder how advanced talks are with big Mac. Lets hope we hear some good news on that front next week - good goal. To all those representing our club, well done.
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Ipswich24 added 08:31 - Mar 26 Gareth McAulay sign him up
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jas0999 added 08:38 - Mar 26 At the start of the week PJ told us he would be working on 'a couple of loan signings' and 'sorting out contracts' - yet again ITFC fail to deliver. In fact, if anything we are in a worse position with just two strikers at the club. It will serve ITFC right if McAuley ends up leaving for nothing. WHY has he not been signed yet? Anyway, McAuley played well yesterday and I suspet numerous clubs will be keen for his signature.

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broomfield123 added 08:48 - Mar 26 He may be our 20 goal a season stricker. Never much cop at defending
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Ipswich24 added 09:01 - Mar 26 broomfield 123 you have no idea do you
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broomfield123 added 09:21 - Mar 26 ipswich 24 you must have had a late night !!!!!
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:04 - Mar 26 Broomfield who are you talking about ?
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bluetoba added 10:16 - Mar 26 Great goal, great goal line clearance but Serbia winning keeps my bet alive. Come on England.
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itfcserbia added 11:44 - Mar 26 I thought McAuley was the best player for Northern Ireland last night. Great goal, couple of clearances, couple of good blocks, was very solid at the back... Luckily, we won... :)
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Blue041273 added 11:55 - Mar 26 My gut feeling is that things are gradually being sorted out to get Mac to re-sign. He seems relaxed with the situation and is playing his best football of the season for both club and country (not the sign of someone anxious about his future). PJ is not talking about it (an indication that he is also confident that things are moving in the right direction). Plus the fact that Mac has told us he doesn't want to move; I'm expecting positive news on the re-signing front soon. I hope I'm right; but if I'm wrong, at least Broomfield123 will be happy and that's an important factor that Mac & PJ need to keep under consideration.

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denhamblue added 13:19 - Mar 26 why all the fuss about only having 2 strikers.Apart from a couple of games of late,they have not scored anyhow.Our attacking midfielders have shown them up.
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Back_The_Boss added 17:29 - Mar 26 Superb finish, Maca to play upfront next season?
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TractorCam added 18:11 - Mar 26 Was a good header, why was there no serbia fans there though?
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LostBumpkin added 18:58 - Mar 26 It was a good delivery by Dean Shiels to set it up :)
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itfcserbia added 19:45 - Mar 26 TractorCam Serbia was banned by UEFA with two games without crowd because of the riots in Italy couple of months ago. Paying the price of hooligans I'm afraid. It was only later allowed to Irish fans to attend the match, because they had already bought the tickets when ban was installed. It looks and sounds sad without people, like a training match... And Italy got out of it unpunished btw...

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Garv added 22:53 - Mar 26 Jas0999 what exact relation to Roy Keane are you? Get to a game.
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bluelady added 05:12 - Mar 28 Jas how much better it would have been if Roy had stayed.........
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