Soccer:Northern Ireland have left themselves with a mountain to climb after just two World Cup qualifiers, according to midfielder Chris Brunt.

A 2-0 defeat away to Russia in their Group F opener hardly came as a surprise but their hopes of a positive campaign sustained a serious blow last night when bottom seeds Luxembourg snatched a 1-1 draw at Windsor Park.

The manner of the result was hugely frustrating for Northern Ireland, who had three ‘goals’ disallowed by the officials following Dean Shiels’ 14th-minute opener. Brunt then struck the base of the post just moments before Daniel Da Costa’s wickedly-deflected equaliser.

But the bare facts point to one point from two games, including what on paper should have been their easiest assignment of all. West Brom captain Brunt was in no mood to gloss over his disappointment.

“We are disappointed we didn’t see the game out and that’s down to complacency.

“Luxembourg had confidence and worked hard but it was a pretty lucky goal towards the end of the second half and it went against the run of play. It will be an uphill battle now. We didn’t do ourselves any harm against Russia, which was always going to be difficult, but now we have a mountain to climb in the next few qualifiers.

“We were dangerous from set plays and had chances, so it’s easy to say it was one of those nights but we didn’t take our chances.”

Manager Michael O’Neill is now winless in five matches at the helm and his prospects of making it sixth time lucky appear remote. His side’s next opponents are Euro 2012 semi-finalists Portugal in Porto and the former Shamrock Rovers boss already appears to be limiting expectations for that match.

“We’re in a very difficult position,” he admitted. “We had hoped to have three points now but we have one point. We go to Portugal next which is an extremely difficult game and I don’ think anyone would expect a lot from that game.

“But we’ll go with the same mentality we went to Russia with that we can take something out of the game. What can people hope for? Hopefully they will see a more competitive performance for longer in the game.”

As if the challenge of taking on Cristiano Ronaldo and company was not hard enough, O’Neill knows he must do so without the help of central defender Gareth McAuley, arguably his country’s form player over the last year.

The West Brom man was booked against both Russia and Luxembourg and will miss the trip to Dragao Stadium as a result. “That’s disappointing. It was very soft yellow card last, very little in it at all,” said O’Neill.

“As a result of that we miss Gareth with two bookings. I thought he was excellent for us out in Moscow so it’s a big blow because when you go to the likes of Portugal you need your big players. Gareth is one of our big players and a mainstay of the back four.”