Euro 2016: Ukraine 0-2 Northern Ireland: Gareth McAuley keeps Round of 16 dream alive
Gareth McAuley and Niall McGinn netted in an excellent rearguard performance to keep Northern Ireland's Round of 16 dream alive with a 2-0 win over Group C rivals Ukraine.
The win ensures that Michael O'Neill's men can finish no lower than third in their group, leaving them in a great position to progress to the knockout stages as one of the best third placed teams.
O'Neill opted to mix things up from the side which lined-up in the 1-0 loss to Poland, setting up his team in a more attacking formation with Conor Washington leading the line after his impressive cameo against the Poles.
And the manager's tactical change brought an almost instant reward, Stuart Dallas forcing a strong save from Andriy Pyatov just minutes after kick-off.
The Green and White Army looked a completely different team from the one who played on Sunday, attacking with verve again and again - although they failed to break through Pyatov's resistance before half-time.
Craig Cathcart headed just over the bar from a corner, Washington dragged an attempt wide and Pyatov spilled a Jamie Ward cross - which unfortunately didn't fall to a Norn Iron player.
This was the story of the half, as some great build up play was not capitalised upon, although O'Neill would have been pleased that his team prevented Ukraine's dangermen having an impact upon the game.
Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko were restricted to peripheral roles thanks to some excellent defending, with O'Neill changing from a back-three to the back-four that served him so well in qualifying.
O'Neill made no changes at half-time despite his side's profligacy in front of goal, and was rewarded less than five minutes into the second period when McAuley headed Oliver Norwood's free-kick into the far corner of Pyatov's goal to reignite Northern Ireland's Euro 2016 campaign.
Ukraine almost pulled level immediately, but Michael McGovern kept out Seleznyov's header at the second attempt, before then claiming a Konoplyanka free-kick which was dipping just under the bar.
The match was temporarily suspended due to poor weather, and the short break appeared to kill much of Northern Ireland's momentum.
Their opponents applied pressue to grab the equaliser, Kovalenko and Zinchenko going close, and McGovern pulling off a fine diving save to deny Yarmolenko.
It was a perfect rearguard performance from O'Neill's men as the game passed into six minutes of injury time, and a Ukraine team unable to hit the back of the net were put to the sword a second time, Niall McGinn converting from close range with just seconds left, leaving the Northern Ireland fans celebrating in rapturous fashion as the final whistle was blown.