Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty believes Northern Ireland now face an uphill task to qualify for Euro 2012.
An impressive start to the campaign came to a shuddering halt with a 1-1 draw against the Faroe Islands in Toftir and the result was a setback for Northern Ireland given it came on the back of a goal-less draw with Italy and a win over Slovenia.
Lafferty said: "We have just made qualifying for the finals ever so difficult and we will have to do it the hard way."
He added: "We have dug ourselves into a hole with this result - so it is up to us to play our way out of it with some great results.
"This result is so disappointing and not what we were looking for coming here after the great start we made to this campaign.
"But that is what happens when you play the game thinking you've already won the three points.
"We just didn't play the way we can. We didn't take our chances and as a result, we were punished."
Northern Ireland had 12 attempts on goal and 10 off it, leaving Lafferty cursing his luck.
"I had loads of chances and on another day would maybe have scored three or four goals, " he said.
"I thought I did well and was just unlucky at times. I made sure that my attitude was correct because that's come into question recently."
Source: PA
