Northern Ireland produced a heroic display to secure a shock point against Portugal in their World Cup qualifier.

Niall McGinn gave the visitors the lead when he chipped the ball over goalkeeper Rui Patricio after good work by Jonny Evans and Kyle Lafferty.

The Portuguese dominated the game but Northern Ireland defended stoutly until Helder Postiga turned and struck home the equaliser after 79 minutes.

The result will rank as one of Northern Ireland’s best-ever away performances.

Portugal, who are ranked third in the world, had several chances to level but Michael O’Neill’s side held on to earn a deserved draw.

Northern Ireland came into the game with a poor record of just one win in their last 18 matches and two victories in their last 29, but had the backing of almost 1,200 supporters in the Dragao Stadium in Porto.

O’Neill made four changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Luxembourg last month, with Craig Cathcart, Oliver Norwood, Corry Evans and Niall McGinn coming into the team.

Three of the changes were enforced as Gareth McAuley was suspended and Chris Brunt and Shane Ferguson injured, while Dean Shiels dropped to the bench.

Portugal boasted six points from their opening three qualifying fixtures, but were keen to return to winning ways after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Russia in Moscow on Friday.

The Portuguse started the match brightly and Postiga just failed to get a touch after Miguel Lopes fired the ball into the penalty area.

Cristiano Ronaldo, winning his 100th cap, fired a right-foot effort just wide soon after.

Northern Ireland came more into the game and Norwood’s low, 25-yard free-kick went into the arms of Rui Patricio.

The visitors took a shock, yet deserved lead, on the half hour when Evans played the ball forward to Lafferty, who found McGinn.

The Aberdeen winger took one touch before chipping the ball over the advancing home goalkeeper for his first international goal.

Norwood then attempted a cheeky lob over the head of Rui Patricio, but the keeper managed to retreat just in time to collect the ball.

At the other end, Cathcart almost scored an own-goal as the ball ricocheted off his leg on to the bar, while Joao Pereira shot wide as the Euro 2012 semi-finalists began to pile on the pressure.

Some heroic defending saw O’Neill’s side go in ahead at half-time, but Portugal came close at the start of the second period when Ruben Micael’s long-range strike went narrowly over the bar.

Postiga forced Northern Ireland keeper Roy Carroll into a save, but the flag was already up for offside, and then Ronaldo met Nani’s cross but Carroll was equal to the task as he saved the Real Madrid forward’s shot with his legs.

The Olympiakos goalkeeper was again called into action to palm away a fierce drive from substitute Ruben Amorim, while Steven Davis skewed the ball over his own bar as the desperate rearguard action continued.

Ronaldo closed in on goal again but Aaron Hughes made a crucial block to deny the striker a 38th international goal.

Carroll twice denied Postiga, but the striker found the net 11 minutes from time when the ball fell to him in the area and he whipped the ball into the back of the net from close range.

In the closing minutes, Carroll made yet another fine stop from Silvestre Varela, Nani fired inches wide and the outstanding Evans made a vital intervention to clear Eder’s dangerous cross into the area.

Northern Ireland have two points from their opening three fixtures and face Azerbaijan in their next qualifying game in Belfast on 14 November.

(BBC Football)

Craig Levein’s future as Scotland coach will be discussed by the Scottish Football Association’s board within a matter of days.

But it is believed that any meeting with Levein himself will not take place for a couple of weeks.

Chief executive Stewart Regan refused to be drawn on whether he thought Levein would remain in charge for next month’s friendly against Luxembourg.

Regan admitted disappointment at Scotland being bottom of their group.

“I think that’s a decision for the board,” he said of Levein’s future.

“Now is not the time to be making announcements and decisions. That’s something that’ll happen over the course of the next few days.

“It’s important that we just reflect on the start to the campaign, sit down with the manager and with the board and actually look at what’s happened over the last few matches and, in particular, what’s happened in the last two games and then decide on our course of action.

“It’s important that we actually sit down, look at the facts and then decide on the next steps.”

Those facts do not read in Levein’s favour following the 2-0 defeat by Belgium in their World Cup Group A qualifier in Brussels.

The former Dundee United, Hearts and Leicester City manager has led Scotland to victory in only three of his 12 competitive fixtures in charge.

Scotland lie bottom of Group A with two points, eight points adrift of group favourites Belgium and top seeds Croatia, despite having played what they hoped would be a beneficial set of opening fixtures at the start of the campaign.

“We’re all bitterly disappointed to find ourselves bottom of the group after four games,” said Regan.

“Looking back to the dates meeting, where we set out our fixtures, we were all hoping to get off to a much better start.

“I think we expected a difficult match against Belgium, recognising the quality of their team and how many of them are playing at the very highest levels of the Premiership.

Fletcher (left) is backing Craig Levein to remain as national coach

“Probably the more difficult one to swallow was the match against Wales on Friday night, where we were 1-0 up with nine minutes to go then lost the match 2-1.”

Levein admitted Scotland’s qualification hopes for the 2014 finals in Brazil are all but over but has insisted he wants to remain in charge.

Scotland players, including captain Darren Fletcher, vice-captain Gary Caldwell and goalkeeper Allan McGregor, have all praised Levein and suggested a change in manager would not be beneficial.

However, Regan hinted that present results are likely to overshadow the long-term strategy Levein has spearheaded to improve Scotland’s pool of talent.

“We appointed Mark Wotte to come in and build the foundations for a stronger Scotland going forward,” said the chief executive.

“The progress we’ve made with the Under-17s and Under-19s recently, including qualification for the elite round of the Under-19 Championships, shows there are some green shoots, particularly for younger age groups.

“The national team is a different proposition. Craig’s got a set of players he’s been working with, he has those players for the European Championships and we came into the World Cup 2014 campaign with a lot of optimism and we all hoped that we would have started better than we have done.

“That hasn’t proved to be the case and we now have to sit down and reflect on that and decide on the next steps.”

Levein will, however, be given the opportunity to defend his record.

“I think it’s important to look at the situation and allow those involved to actually put their thoughts across the table,” added Regan.

“We’re a board of directors. It’s important that each of the directors gets a chance to have an input.

“Not all of the directors have been on this trip and we want to actually sit down as a group and have a discussion with the manager.

“When we’ve had a chance to do that then we’ll decide what happens next.”

( BBC Football)