Northern Ireland were held to a 0-0 draw by Cyprus on Sunday in their second match of the Nations League.
Ian Baraclough’s side were looking to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat against Greece on Thursday in their first match of the competition.
However, it was the hosts who came closest to opening the scoring in the first half when defender Fanos Katelaris thumped a long-range effort against the crossbar.
A hard-fought contest between Cyprus and Northern Ireland ended goalless
Ali McCann missed a golden opportunity to score the winning goal late on
Ian Baraclough’s team failed to score for the second consecutive Nations League match
Cyprus came close again to going in front just after the hour mark, but Bailey Peacock-Farrell stood tall to deny substitute Marinos Tzionis.
Northern Ireland had moments of their own, with Shayne Lavery and Ali McCann squandering chances late on as they had to settle for a point.
In the other game in the group, Greece made it two wins from two by edging past Kosovo 1-0.
Tasos Bakasetas scored the only goal of the match as Kosovo finished with nine men after Fidan Aliti and Arijanet Muric were given their marching orders in the second half.
Meanwhile, Manchester City’s new signing Erling Haaland bagged a brace to guide Norway to an impressive 2-1 win against Sweden.
Erling Haaland scored in the first half to give Norway the lead against Sweden
He then found the net again after the break as Norway picked up another Nations League win
Haaland scored from the penalty spot in the first half, and doubled his team’s advantage after the break, before Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga pulled a goal back for Sweden in stoppage time.
Norway are now top of their group, but Serbia moved within three points of them as they thrashed Slovenia 4-1.
Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luka Jovic also found the target in a dominant victory.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored another goal for his country as they cruised past Slovenia
Georgia moved top of Group 4 in League C by hammering Bulgaria 5-2 in Sofia. The visitors scored three goals in 18 minutes after the interval to wrap up a one-sided win.
Goals in either half from Enis Bardhi and Boban Nikolov helped North Macedonia ease to a 2-0 victory in Gibraltar.
They have now collected four points from their opening two games in Group 4 of League C.
Meanwhile, Malta got their Nations League campaign off to the perfect start by beating San Marino 2-0 in Group 2 of League D.
Second-half goals from Jan Busuttil and Matthew Guillaumier sealed a convincing win away from home.
Malta beat San Marino on Sunday afternoon to start their Nations League campaign on a high
