Just for a second it looked as if Northern Ireland sub Conor Washington was going to be a hero for his country in Nice.

It was a nice flick over the head of Poland's Michal Pazdan to set the QPR striker on his way, and Washington had the pace to outstrip Artur Jedrzejczyk to race into the box.

But on his way, he needed to nod the ball ahead of him, and it was the header, just a notch too heavy that gave Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny the chance to race off his line and smother the chance.

Later on, former Ranger Jermaine Jenas told the BBC the nod-on was far from the worst, but admired the speed of the Gunners shot-stopper in smothering the big moment.

Washington has scored more goals for Northern Ireland than he has Hoops, two to nothing, after his £2.5m transfer from Peterborough in January.

But his former boss at St Ives Town, when the striker was a postman, reckons the forward is a slow starter and insists he will come good in first full season at Loftus Road.

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