Norway's World Cup qualification hopes suffered a blow with a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Albania in Oslo.
Salihi scored only goal of Group E contest before Lila sent-off
Norway's World Cup qualification hopes suffered a blow with a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Albania in Oslo.
Hamdi Salihi's 67th-minute strike put Albania ahead in the Group E contest, before the visitors were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages after Andi Lila picked up two bookings in quick succession.
Despite their numerical advantage, Norway, who started the day second in the group, were unable to salvage anything from the game and dropped down two places to fourth with the defeat.
Albania stay third in the group and Iceland are up to second - with both teams two points better off than the Norwegians - after their victory in Slovenia.
Salihi produced the game's first attempt on goal with a shot in the third minute that was comfortably saved by Rune Jarstein, and Tarik Elyounoussi headed wide at the other end.
Migjen Basha then fired the wrong side of Jarstein's post before Elyounoussi saw an effort blocked by Armend Dallku.
Seconds later John Arne Riise sent the ball over the bar left-footed from Elyounoussi's corner.
Off-target
Salihi was off-target with two further shots, but following an Elyounoussi effort that went too high just before the hour mark, the Albania striker broke the deadlock with a right-footed finish into the top corner having been teed up by Ervin Bulku.
After Salihi struck another attempt over, Norway pushed for the equaliser, with Tom Hogli shooting wide and Mohamed Abdellaoui bringing a fantastic parry out of Etrit Berisha.
Lila was then shown a yellow card in the 84th minute for time-wasting and another three minutes later for a foul on Abdellaoui.
Riise could only send the resulting free-kick into the wall and Albania held on for all three points.
