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Northern Ireland's hopes of World Cup qualification suffered a heavy blow as they lost 2-0 to Slovakia at Windsor Park.

Nigel Worthington's side's hopes of qualifying from Group 3 are all but over after their tireless efforts went unrewarded, with the Slovakian's sharp finishing giving them a victory against the run of play.

The visitors opened the scoring as Manchester City's Vladimir Weiss produced a stunning run up the right wing on the quarter-hour mark, cutting through the hosts' defence and delivering a final ball to set up Stanislav Sestak for a tap-in from the edge of the six-yard box.

Northern Ireland fought back into the match and created wave after wave of chances, particularly in the opening 25 minutes of the second half.

But substitute Filip Holosko's volleyed goal on the counter-attack put the result beyond doubt.

From the off it was a fiercely-competitive match, with the Slovaks clearly determined not to merely sit back and play for the draw.

But it was the hosts who enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges as David Healy's second-minute volley and Damien Johnson's 11th-minute header from a Grant McCann cross could both have borne fruit.

Just four minutes later, however, a piece of brilliant individual skill from Weiss lead to a goal for Slovakia.

The 19-year-old Manchester City winger - whose father is the Slovak coach - flew up the right flank, beating three players and putting in an inch-perfect cross to Sestak on the edge of the six-yard box.

With the defence having been left standing by the speed of the break - not to mention the mesmerising footwork of Weiss as he nutmegged Jonny Evans - Sestak was totally unmarked, and all he had to do was put his knee in the way of the ball to score.

It was a bitter blow for the home side, as much for the goal as for the fact that it allowed Slovakia to sit a little deeper and restrict Northern Ireland's chances while looking consistently dangerous on the break.

Yet an equaliser was agonisingly close to arriving on 27 minutes, a well-worked free-kick move clearing the way for Healy to unleash a terrific shot from just outside the box.

The ball curved just wide of the post - and the near-miss seemed to spur Northern Ireland on as they enjoyed much the better of the rest of the half.

For all their possession, however, Worthington's side failed to create another clear chance before the half-time whistle.

But the manager clearly found the right words at half-time: Northern Ireland came out all guns blazing, pouring upfield in numbers, retaining possession brilliantly and consistently making excellent runs into space.

Martin Paterson had good chances on 49, 50 and 53 minutes as the visitors' defence failed to deal with their hosts' sprightly play.

And the Burnley striker seemed certain to level the scores on 66 minutes as a misdirected clearance fell to him; he juggled the ball and volleyed hard - but Jan Mucha in the Slovak goal made a brilliant stop.

The disappointment was bitter - but it only got worse as from the clearance the Slovaks hit on the break, and a long ball through found substitute Holosko.

His clever first touch back inside took him away from Aaron Hughes, and he then volleyed brilliantly past the stretching Maik Taylor.

It was just the second shot on target from the visitors, who were in no way value for their two-goal lead on the run of play - yet on both occasions the set-up and finishing was simply too good for Northern Ireland.

Worthington's men continued to push for the next 20 minutes, but as they tired in the final stages first Holosko then Marek Sapara rattled the bar with excellent shots that would have flattered the visitors even further.

The result puts Slovakia's qualification from Group 3 entirely in their own hands, while Northern Ireland will have to win in the Czech Republic next month and hope other results go their way to get them into the play-offs.

Czech Republic 7-0 San Marino

In the night's other Group 3 matches Milan Baros struck four times to help Czech Republic give their qualification hopes a lift with a 7-0 win over San Marino.

Baros, who netted a vital late equaliser against Slovakia on Saturday, picked up where he had left off, netting a first-half hat-trick and adding his fourth midway through the second half.

Vaclav Sverkos scored two and Tomas Necid got one to complete a victory that leaves the Czechs with 12 points from eight matches in Group 3 and still with a chance of qualification.

San Marino finished the game with 10 men after Simone Bacciocchi was booked for the second time for holding up play with eight minutes to go.

Slovakia top the group with 19 points from eight matches, while Northern Ireland have 14 points from nine games.

Slovenia 3-0 Poland

Slovenia are also on 14 points after a comfortable 3-0 home win over Poland thanks to goals from Zlatko Dedic, Milivoje Novakovic and Valter Birsa.

And the Slovenians are favourites to clinch the final qualifying spot: crucially, they have both a superior goal difference and a game in hand over Northern Ireland - and they face Group 3 cannon fodder San Marino in their final qualifying match.

Poland also remain technically in the running in a tight group, despite being in fifth place with 11 points from eight matches.

Only the winners qualifying for South Africa 2010 directly. The eight best second-placed teams from the nine groups in Europe go into two-legged play-offs for the four remaining places.

Toby Keel / Eurosport