Albion’s Jayson Molumby and Isaac Price both suffered FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final heartbreak on Thursday night.
Midfielder Molumby completed 114 minutes of the Republic of Ireland’s penalty shootout loss to Czechia in Prague.
The two nations exchanged blows in normal time. Troy Parrott’s opener and an own-goal had Ireland two notches ahead, before Patrik Schick and Ladislav Krejcí levelled the scores to send the tie to extra-time.
A goalless further 20 minutes left the match to penalties, where Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men were narrowly beaten 4-3 - ending The Boys in Green’s World Cup qualification efforts.
Meanwhile, midfielder Price played the full fixture for Northern Ireland as they were beaten by Italy at the New Balance Arena.
The Green and White Army put in a resolute defensive showing in the first period, but were undone by two second-half strikes from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean in Bergamo.
Michael O’Neill’s men couldn’t muster up a response to either goal, as the 2-0 defeat saw their tournament hopes fade at the hands of the Azzurri, who edged closer to their first World Cup since 2014.
