A lengthy VAR review denied Callum Marshall a dream debut goal for Northern Ireland in Denmark.
The West Ham teenager thought he had rescued a point late on in Copenhagen when he hooked home a Jonny Evans knockdown.
But after an agonising wait at the Parken Stadium the goal was chalked off meaning Jonas Wind's second half strike proved decisive for the Danes.
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It was harsh on Michael O'Neill's depleted squad who had worked tirelessly throughout.
Their injury woes continued before the game as Craig Cathcart became the tenth senior player to be ruled out of these qualification games.
The Watford defender missed out with a back issue, but his absence meant both Conor Bradley and Trai Hume slotted in alongside the experienced trio of Jonny Evans, Paddy McNair and Ciaron Brown in defence.
Like Hume teenager Issac Price was also handed a first start to help lead the line with Shayne Lavery on his return from injury.
By contrast the hosts were largely at full strength with big hitters Schmeichel, Kjaer, Eriksen, Hojbjerg and Hojlund all starting.
The raucous home support were trying to drive their team on from the start with Northern Ireland keen to stifle and frustrate their opponents.
It was Schmeichel who was the first goalkeeper forced into action as he had to scramble across his line to deal with a deflected Lavery effort with a quarter of an hour on the clock.
Denmark were dominating possession and finally tested Bailey Peacock-Farrell as we approached the half hour as Crystal Palace's Joachim Andersen let fly from outside the box.
Despite their dominance of the ball the Danes were largely frustrated by the hard-working visitors.
There was some anxiety when Bradley went down holding his knee following an innocuous fall before the break.
Thankfully he was able to see out the half as Northern Ireland got to the whistle with half the job completed.
But all of Northern Ireland's hard work was undone within two minutes of the restart.
They failed to deal with Joakim Maehle's cross into the box, Brown attempted to clear with his thigh whilst on the ground, but he could only divert the ball into the path of Wind, who fired past Peacock-Farrell at the near post.
It gave the hosts a huge lift and they almost doubled their lead on 52 minutes as Hojbjerg fizzed a long-range effort inches over the bar.
The keeper then denied Hojlund after Eriksen had sent him clear, before his superb clearance released Price, who almost levelled things up but his powerful near-post shot was turned over by Schmeichel.
It was a rare sortie forward for the visitors though as Denmark continued to push for the second goal.
Things threatened to boil over as we moved into the final 20 minutes as Northern Ireland felt frustrated following soft bookings for McNair and McCann.
Skipper Evans then followed them into the referee's notebook following a tussle with Hojlund, which led to Hojbjerg drawing another save out of Peacock-Farrell.
O'Neill threw on Conor McMenamin, Dale Taylor and Marshall as he tried to add more of an attacking threat for his side to rescue something out of the game.
Danish captain Kjaer was proving to be a tough nut to crack at the back though as he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to nullify any opportunity Northern Ireland had on the break.
The visitors were definitely asking more questions in the closing stages as the home side started to look slightly nervous.
And it almost bore out deep into stoppage time as Northern Ireland thought they had a priceless equaliser.
Teenager Marshall instinctively hooked home Evans' knockdown from Jordan Thompson's free kick.
But after wild scenes of celebration the goal was the subject of a lengthy VAR review of some four minutes before it was heartbreakingly chalked off for offside against Evans in the build up.
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