Brown: Healy out to impress

Preston manager Craig Brown believes striker David Healy will be out to impress when his side take on Norwich at the weekend.
The Northern Ireland international had a spell on loan at Carrow Road last season and City boss Nigel Worthington was believed to want him on a permanent basis.
But the 24-year-old returned to Deepdale and has established himself in Brown’s first team, weighing in with 15 goals this season.
“It will be interesting for David,” Brown said. “He played quite a few games there last season and he will be out to impress.
“He was always our player and he came back and he’s had a very good season, scoring a lot of goals even though he hasn’t started every game.”
TEAMtalk

McCartney set for Sunderland return

Sunderland skipper George McCartney is ready to re-join the battle for Barclaycard Premiership football after shaking off his knee injury.
The Northern Ireland international, who celebrated his 23rd-birthday on Thursday, has missed the last two games after injuring both knees during his side’s 1-0 home defeat by West Brom on April 18.
McCartney only lost his ever-present tag this season when a previous injury kept him out of the 2-1 win at Wimbledon on April 6, but he is determined to make up for lost time when, if selected, he returns against Crewe on Saturday for a game which could secure the Black Cats’ place in the play-offs.
“I hope to be back against Crewe,” he said. “It is frustrating watching from the sidelines. I can still feel a bit of pain in the knee, but it’s nothing more than bruising. I’m hoping it’ll be okay.”
Sunderland have taken just one point from the last 12 on offer and have seen the chasing pack close alarmingly.
However, they remain in third place and, with a game in hand, are confident that they can keep their promotion dreams on track.
“The sooner we do it, the better,” McCartney told the club’s official website, http://www.safc.com.
“If we can win on Saturday, it will take the pressure off. We’ve had a blip in recent games and maybe it was to be expected with the amount of matches we’ve played. There’s no doubt this season has been tough for the lads. All we want to do is finish the season well and go into the play-offs on a high.”
Sporting Life

Northern Ireland 1 – 1 Serbia and Montenegro

Northern Ireland were hard done by to only draw with Serbia Montenegro at Windsor Park tonight. It was a slow start from Northern Ireland who were showing their opponents a bit too much respect, and the away side took the lead on 7 minutes after some poor defending let in Paunovic to nutmeg Maik Taylor. However they didn’t have the lead for long as a great cross by David Healy in the 18th minute was met by James Quinn at the far post to make it 1-1. Quinn had a good match and showed some very clever touches and should certainly be high up on Lawrie Sanchez’ list of strikers. Healy himself had a great chance to give us the lead on the stroke of half time, but after doing extremely well to take the ball past the last defender his shot was well saved by their keeper.

In the second half Northern Ireland were completely dominant, despite 4 half time changes which saw Gary Hamilton make his first Norn Iron appearance at Windsor Park (replacing Healy), Steve Jones come on for Gillespie on the right wing, Roy Carroll replace Maik Taylor (Williams was given the captain’s armband) and Paul McVeigh come on in place of his Norwich teammate, Mulryne.
Jones was full of running and Northern Ireland were working hard all over the pitch and getting the ball up to the strikers, with Tommy Doc particularly impressing in the middle, although Jeff Whitley alongside him also had a good game. Serbia and Montenegro were rattled – and proved to be one of the dirtiest sides to play Northern Ireland in recent years as they hacked away at our players, especially Quinn – repeatedly dragging him down but diving themselves if anyone came near them. The Welsh referee didn’t have a clue.
Smith, Sonner and Hughes came on in a 78th minute triple substitution. I’ve always been a critic of Andy Smith at International level but tonight he was very impressive – not just ‘working his socks off’ but playing very well when he actually had the ball. Hughes was good too. It was Smith’s touch on that sent Jones speeding towards the away goal in the 85th minute and he was hauled down in the box as he prepared to unleash his shot – amazingly no penalty was given.
Gary Hamilton didn’t let the Irish League down either, and went close to snatching the win in the last few minutes with their keeper doing very well to get his foot to the Portadown striker’s left footed snapshot to keep it out.
Roy Carroll managed a second half clean sheet. He didn’t have the much to do however he was well off his line on two occasions and looked solid (for a change..)
So – a draw wasn’t a fair result but as Lawrie said maybe we’d have got carried away if we won. Very few negatives to come out of the match – everyone played well and some definitely made their points to the manager. Williams and Craigan are hardly going to keep Aaron and McCartney out of the team, but they showed again that if called upon they’ll be able to do a job. McCartney is suspended for the match against Poland remember – although Mark Clyde has STILL to make his Norn Iron debut. Chris Baird was much improved from the Norway match and it was his excellent through ball that sent Healy clear down the wing to set up Quinn’s equaliser. Capaldi was solid and Peter Kennedy’s days as a Northern Ireland squad member could well be drawing to a close. Whitley’s having a great season and he was very good tonight, while Tommy Doherty was immense once again and surely has his starting place in the team set in stone now. The two Norwich lads played well and Premiership football can only benefit them. Steve Jones was great when he came on and the likes of Mulryne and Gillespie will need to be on their toes if they want to keep the versatile Crewe lad out of the team – of course Damien Johnston wasn’t involved tonight so there is now very strong competition for those 4 midfield places.
James Quinn was injured for Lawrie’s first two games in charge and so needed to take his opportunity tonight, and he fairly did. You wouldn’t think that he’d only played one half of football on Saturday after 2 months out. IMO he’s a lot better than Kirk, Elliot or Hamilton and will be trying hard to prove he should be in the starting lineup alongside Healy instead of Andy Smith. It’s also good to have a big target man up there. After the match he said:
“I think we played some great stuff and the attitude of the lads was fantastic. If we had nicked it at 2-1 we would have deserved it. I haven’t played for a Northern Ireland team that has worked so hard.”
Lawrie Sanchez, although delighted with the performance, wasn’t getting carried away (thankfully):
“They were rattled. It was a good performance and it’s starting to get where I want us to go. We should have won it at the end and we’re getting towards being a decent side and making progress in every game.”
Northern Ireland: Taylor (Carroll 46), Baird, Craigan, Williams, Capaldi, Gillespie (Jones 46), Doherty (Michael Hughes 78), Whitley (Sonner 78), Mulryne (McVeigh 46), Healy (Hamilton 46), Quinn (Smith 78).
Not used: Kennedy, Murdock.
AWS man of the match: Very close between Tommy Doc and James Quinn, but the Mighty Quinn shades it in the end. Maik Taylor noticed that we didn’t stop singing when they scored and in fact ‘It was as if we’d scored.’

Tonight’s teams

James Quinn starts! Huzzah!
NORTHERN IRELAND
1. M Taylor (Cap) Birmingham City
2. C Baird Southampton
3. T Capaldi Plymouth Argyle
4. S Craigan Motherwell
5. M Williams Wimbledon
6. T Doherty Bristol City
7. K Gillespie Leicester City
8. J Whitley Sunderland
9. D Healy Preston North End
10. J Quinn Willem II
11. P Mulryne Norwich City
12. R Carroll Manchester United
13. P Kennedy Wigan Athletic
14. C Murdock Hibernian
15. D Sonner Nottingham Forest
16. S Jones Crewe Alexandra
17. P McVeigh Norwich City
18. M Hughes Crystal Palace
19. A Smith Glentoran
20. G Hamilton Portadown
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
1. O Kovacevic Zeleznik
2. M Cirkovic Partizan
3. I Dragutinovic Standard Liege
4. M Kolakovic Athletico Madrid
5. M Dudic Red Star
6. G Gavrancic Dynamo Kyiv
7. A Nadj Partizan
8. M Kezman PSV Eindhoven
9. V Paunovic Athletic Madrid
10.Z Vukic Shakhtyar Donetsk
11. G Trobok Spartak Moscow
12. Z Banovic Sutjeska Niksic
13. D Petkovic Spartak Moscow
14. N Djordevic Partizan
15. J Markoski Zeleznik
16. M Vitakic Red Star
18. V Ivic Partizan
19. N Mirosavljevic Sartid-Smederevo
20. M Krstajic Werder Bremen

Brunt Player of the Month

Northern Ireland Under 21 International Chris Brunt has been voted April Player of the Month by Independent Sheffield Wednesday fansite Owls Online. They said that Brunt, a half time substitute in Northern Ireland’s goalless under 23 encounter with Serbia Montenegro last night ‘has been the only real bright spot in a bad bad month for Wednesday.’
He currently leads a similar poll on the official Sheffield Wednesday site.

Taylor to Captain the side

With the absence of Aaron Hughes from the squad, Maik Taylor will captain Northern Ireland for the second time tonight as they take on Serbia Montenegro at Windsor Park.
“It’s obviously a great honour for me to carry on as captain,” said Taylor. “It’s also particularly pleasing to lead the side out at Windsor Park.”
Maik, who also captained the side in their last match, against Estonia, also said that the Northern Ireland squad are now much more optimistic about their future as Lawrie Sanchez begins to influence the players.
“We’ve now got much more optimism about everything. We got the goal against Norway and that lifted everybody. Then we got the win in Estonia and if we can build on that it would be fantastic as we look ahead to the World Cup.”

Northern Ireland 0 -0 Serbia Montenegro (U23)

Northern Ireland U23’s put in a brave performance last night to draw 0-0 with Serbia Montenegro in a one off match. Lee McEvilly nealy scored for the home side early on but in the end they were happy to settle for the draw. Alan Blayney, and especially his half time replacement Alan Mannus were in inspired form in the Northern Ireland goal, with Mannus making two great saves to keep the tie scoreless.
Northern Ireland: Blayney (Mannus 46), Close, O’Hara, Webb, Buchanan, Clingan, Davis (Hughes 46), McFlynn, McEvilly, Braniff (Clarke 59), Davey (Brunt 46)
Subs not used: Gault, Campbell, Lindsay, McCourt

Kirk pulls out

Andy Kirk is the latest player to withdraw from tomorrow night’s friendly match with Serbia Montenegro at Windsor Park, while Michael Hughes and Gary Hamilton are both doubts after having sat out training today.

Johnson withdraws

Birmingham’s Damien Johnson has withdrawn form the Northern Ireland Squad for tomorrow night’s game against Serbia Montenegro with an ankle injury. Striker Andy Smith may only play for part of the match, as Glentoran boss Roy Coyle wants him fresh for Saturday’s Irish Cup Final against Coleraine. James Quinn played the second half of Willem II’s 2-0 defeat by Twente on Saturday, and ‘added some impulse to the team’.

Squad for Wednesday announced…again!

Those who had reservations about the official-ness of the squad announced in the Newsletter on Tuesday were today proved right as the IFA announced the official 22-man squad, which doesn’t include Aaron Hughes, George McCartney or Stuart Elliot. Hughes is missing as Newcastle have some important games coming up in the English Premiership, and McCartney and Elliot are injured.
Official Squad:
Taylor (Birmingham), Carroll (Manchester Utd), Baird (Southampton), Kennedy (Wigan), Murdock (Hibernian), Craigan (Motherwell), Williams (Wimbledon), Capaldi (Plymouth), Gillespie (Leicester), M Hughes (Crystal Palace), Jones (Crewe), Whitley (Sunderland), Johnson (Birmingham), Sonner (Nottingham Forest), Doherty (Bristol City), Healy (Preston), Smith (Glentoran), Kirk (Hearts), Hamilton (Portadown), McVeigh (Norwich), Quinn (Willem II).