Goalkeeper Conor Hazard was sent off as Northern Ireland U21s fell to a 3-0 defeat away to Romania on Monday night.
Captain Hazard was shown a red card before half-time which proved a turning point in this Euro 2021 quaifier.
Romania went on to score three unanswered goals in the second half, making it a miserable campaign so far for Ian Baraclough's young side.
Northern Ireland have just two points from four games in their qualifiers to date, although three of those matches have been away from home.
Shayne Lavery was off target in the 18th minute as Northern Ireland started brightly.
Alexandru Pascanu steered the ball wide from a Valentin Mihaila corner at the other end, and then Dennis Man fired an effort wide.
On 38 minutes Hazard fouled Man as he ran through on goal, and the referee produced a red card for the Northern Ireland keeper.
Fellow Celtic netminder Liam Hughes replaced Hazard when he came on as a substitute for midfielder Ethan Galbraith.
Hughes was straight into the action to deny both Andrei Ciobanu and Man in quick succession
Lavery had a good opportunity in first half stoppage time but after showing good pace he fired wide of the post.
Romania grabbed the opener on 48 minutes when Tudor Baluta scored, and then Andrei Ratiu hit the woodwork.
The second goal arrived when Man played through Mihaila and he found the net.
Shea Gordon had a chance for Northern Ireland just before Romania grabbed their third on 67 minutes.
Adrian Petre found Ciobanu and he found the net.
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