Northern Ireland have only an outside chance of qualifying for Euro 2008 after Keith Gillespie's late own-goal saw them slump 2-1 in Iceland. Just like against Latvia at the weekend they were undone by an own goal in this group F encounter.
It was Gillespie's turn to rue his bad luck a minute from time on Wednesday night with the touch which sealed defeat.
In Latvia Chris Baird's own goal had sealed a narrow win for the hosts.
You had to feel for Northern Ireland as they raised their game after a bad start.
They almost made the breakthrough as well inside the first minute with Warren Feeney testing goalkeeper Arni Arason with a fierce shot.
Meanwhile, Steve Staunton's dream of leading Ireland to next summer's Euro 2008 finals are effectively over after Marek Jankulovski's first-half winner gave the Czech Republic an almost unassailable Group D advantage.
Reeling from the sending-off of substitute Stephen Hunt on the hour for a lunge on Jan Polak, Staunton's men battled bravely in search of an equaliser but were ultimately fortunate to go down by such a narrow deficit. Jankulovski's goal marked a first period of complete dominance by Czechs spiked only by Kevin Doyle's 38th-minute chance in which the Reading man was sent clear by Robbie Keane but hit the post. Hunt gave the Republic the momentum to at least make a game of it after his introduction seven minutes the break, but his straight red card realistically signified the end of the Irish challenge.
