Northern Ireland Under 21s' dreams of qualifying were ended following a 2-1 defeat to Czech Republic.
Norwood strike in vain as Czech Republic prevail 2-1
Northern Ireland's dreams of qualifying for the European Under 21 Championship in 2011 were ended following a 2-1 defeat at home to Czech Republic.
Steve Beaglehole's youngsters went into the game with just one point from their opening four games, although a 1-1 draw with Germany on Friday had boosted confidence levels.
Czech Republic, top of Group 5 with a 100 per cent winning record, predictably started the stronger and carved out a number of chances in the early stages.
Trevor Carson of Sunderland pulled off a couple of decent stops to keep Northern Ireland level, although he was nearly embarrassed when he misread the bounce of the ball and only a defensive clearance off the line spared his blushes.
Carson was finally beaten in the 36th minute when the dangerous Martin Zeman's free-kick evaded everyone in the box and flew straight into the corner of the net.
Libor Kozak then doubled Czech Republic's advantage with a powerful header from Lukas Marecek's cross just a minute later.
Northern Ireland came out fighting in the second half and forced the visitors onto the back foot, with goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik required to be on top form.
Oliver Norwood, who scored a stunning equaliser against Germany, repeated the trick with eight minutes remaining to give Northern Ireland a lifeline.
Norwood had earlier seen a trademark curling free-kick parried behind for a corner by Vaclik but his next effort was simply magnificent and sailed into the top corner.
Northern Ireland then had an appeal for a late penalty turned down as Czech Republic held on to secure all three points.
