Romania 2 – 0 Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland lost their second and last USA Tour game 2-0 to Romania last night. We were done by two early goals and a 38th minute red card for Jimmy Quinn (for a ‘rash challenge’). Thompson & Big G had a few chances, and Shiels also forced a save.
Sanchez was worried about our not finding the net on the tour though – hope that particular monkey isn’t reappearing! Hardly though:
“We’ve got to be grateful that we did create chances over the two games. We’ve got young players without a lot of experience and they don’t play at the highest level. Scoring is something to be concerned about. We didn’t score but we did create chances. We just have to keep things going and get better. Romania were the better team and are more experienced than us.”
The starting team was Blayney, Duff, Capaldi, Craigan, Davis, Clingan, Sproule, Quinn, McAuley, Shields, Thompson – nowhere has got what subs came on or anything.
The match is being re-run on Romanian TV at midnight their time on Monday night, 10ish (?) our time, if anyone wants to see how the damage was done. You can watch it

Northern Ireland 1 – 0 Estonia

It took Ivan Sproule less than 2 minutes (77 seconds to be precise!) of his first start for Northern Ireland to get his first goal for his country. The former Institute man started on the right wing in a surprising starting line up for Northern Ireland. Stuart Olyott again faced the ignomy of starting the match on the bench. Chris Baird played in the centre of midfield, with Steve Davis to his left and Brunt on the wing. Ex-Coleraine defender Gareth McAuley started at right back, with Michael Duff partnering Craigan in the middle.

It was a good job we got the early goal, because it was a pretty poor match. The atmosphere was the worst at a Norn Iron match in a long time, despite another sell-out. Estonia had a few chances to get a quick equaliser, with Capaldi exposed a few times and McAuley looking a bit dodgy at right back. However, big Maik pulled off a few tremendous saves. Quinn had the ball in the net but it was ruled offside.

There were 2 changes at halftime and a lot more during the half. Ivan was replaced by Steve Jones at half time. Jones did ok, his running was pretty good, but he missed yet another easy chance on 55 minutes when he scooped the ball over the bar. Ivan took his chance, but Jonah constantly seems to be missing.

Big G got M.O.T.M but I would obviously give it to Ivan, and I thought defensive-wise, Duff was more solid than McAuley. In the first half anyway, it’s pretty hard to see what goes on when we change ends, and the snow didn’t help.

But the snow was wonderful – “Jingle Bells” rang out. We changed to playing with a yellow ball. (Good job not an orange one – the media would have had a field day).

Elliott came on as a sub and did well. Had a header saved by a full length Mart Poom dive.

Ivan:
“Hopefully, it is the first of many.
“It was my first touch and was something we had been working on in training, me coming in at the far post. It came off David Healy and I just smashed it in.”

The Boss – On Ivan:
“Ivan will entertain the fans for years to come. He is picking up things quickly.
“Supporters like wingers. They love someone that runs with the ball and is unpredictable. You can almost see the anticipation of the crowd when he has the ball at his feet. He had that effect here and he’s shown that kind of form at Hibs.
Ivan took his goal well and perhaps he should have added to his tally.”

On Bairdy the Midfielder:
“We needed a defensive midfield player and Chris gave us that option. I thought he did okay.

On the game:
“It was a scruffy game but we’ve got the win that we wanted.
“I thought in the first-half we were better than them and the scoreline might have been a little bit more emphatic.”
“It was a scruffy game, but in the past we were losing scruffy games so it was a good result. It is important to win football matches,” said the NI boss.
“The first half was good but the second was a bit more disjointed as we made substitutions.
“We had to think about players with matches on Saturday and to give them a chance to rest.
“There were chances for us to win by more, but to be fair they had opportunities too and Maik Taylor pulled off saves when he had to.

Some of the above photos courtesy of Piemonger.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, McAuley, Duff, Craigan (McLean ht) Capaldi, Sproule (Jones ht), Baird, Davis, Brunt (McCann 68), Healy (Feeney 59), Quinn (Thompson 59)
Not Used: Ingham, Murdock

Northern Ireland 2 – 3 Wales

So the first game since THAT night. We were all over them for the first 25 minutes. It was great. Then Gillespie left the man he was meant to be marking, a quick break down the left wing and, totally against the run of play, they were one nil up. Having scored the goal, the Welsh came back into it a bit more. With 38 minutes gone, Giggs turned it on, beat two of our defenders, got the ball in and 2-0. We didn’t deserve this. Then, it looked like it was all over: Maik Taylor, suffering from back pain, hit a poor clearance to a Welsh player. Capaldi won it back, but was loath to pass back to Taylor to give the captain another chance to kick it. He started dragging back his man about 25 yards out. The ref waits a few seconds and then PENALTY!! It was nearer the half way line than the eighteen yard box! (well, near enough). But no red card anyway – but Capaldi’s now suspended for Austria. John Hartson steps up…TAYLOR SAVES! But would it be that important in the long run? Although Wales had come back from 2 down in Cardiff…
Second half, young Jamesy beside me starts going on about scoring direct from the kick off. I was having none of it. Approximately 48 seconds later, young Gillespie strides through their defence to slot the ball past Paul Jones – only his second ever international goal – and his first for 11 years! Woo! Back in it. Then, a few minutes later young Davis of Villa has the ball in the net, his first international goal since, well, ever. 2-2. Wow. We were all over them. Damo Johnson had a great chance soon after to complete the comeback. Blocked by Jones. Then, Quinn gets fouled in our defensive third. Play on says Dutch Referee. Straight after, Earnshow falls down at the feet of Murdock just outside out penalty area. Free kick. Ryan Giggs. It didn’t look good, did it? Bang. 3-2.
But we came back, piling on the pressure. Elliott, who had done basically nothing, was replaced by Brunt. It’s hard to find anything nice to say about Brunt’s competitive debut. Basically every cross he put in went straight to the keeper’s hands. He hit at least 2 free kicks, including a vital one at the end, but totally wasted them. Although he is still a promising youngster and has scored a lot of free kicks in the past. But today just wasn’t his day. And then there were the penalty appeals – we had 2 in a row, right in front of the Kop – and if we didn’t deserve both of them then I – and not the referee – am the Dutchman.
Jones was brought on for Duff, who had had a solid debut – a lot more promising than ‘Big G’ for defensive cover (apparently he clipped the bar with a header at the start – the Railyway Stand’s miles away). Healy had a header, kept out by the head of a Wales defender. In the last minute of injury time, Healy had a great chance. SOMEHOW it stayed out. I dunno how. Then, the very last chance, Davis had it in the box. He chose to float in a cross rather than smash it towards goal. Over Murdock’s head and game over. We had so many chances I can’t remember half of them. Wales never looked threatening apart from when Giggs was on the ball. A draw would have been the LEAST we deserved. But we better not get greedy after the England game.

And we still have a sizeable number of eejits among our fans. The Welsh anthem was booed by some in revenge for Cardiff – what’s the point of bringing ourselves done to their level? And then, as always, even the England game, there’s those who spend basically the whole match slagging off Northern Ireland players and proving they hadn’t a clue. Steve Jones was on the ball at one point when someone shouted ‘Come on Smith!’ Thankfully, Mandy never got further than the bench. Just if in the next qualifying campaign or in the new stadium when people complain about glory hunters brought in by the England game, remember we’ve always had the same drugged up eejits.
The fact that some ignored the desperate plea by the announcer not to boo the Welsh anthem (see boys, we all remembered, but we didn’t need to boo to prove it) reminds me of the funniest moment of the match. The North Stand had been standing since the start of the match, and some stayed standing. Then came the announcement in the first half ‘Could those in the lower tier of the North Stand please sit down for health and safity reasons’. The cheek! The North Stand had come to life on the 7th of September and now they were being told to go back to being cardboard cutouts. The whole kop booed the announcement, and then we started ‘Stand up for the Ulstermen’. When the announcement was made, a few segments of the ‘Family Enclosure’ (ie lower tier) were standing. As we were singing, the WHOLE Lower Tier stood up. Class. Simply class.
Oh yeah, the match. Well, we lost, but if we beat Austria (‘well in that case G’day mate, why don’t we throw another shrimp on the barbie!’) on Wednesday night we’ll finish third because it’s down to our record against them and not goal difference.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Duff (Jones 85ish), Craigan, Murdock, Capaldi, Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott (Brunt 65ish), Quinn, Healy
Not used: Ingham, Sproule, Smith, McAuley, Feeney.
Get Sprouler into them Austrians!
Sanchez:
“We deserved something from the game. But you cannot hope to win games if you keep conceding three or four goals. I said to the players that we needed to get ourselves right after the England game. But we have given away too many free-kicks around our box.”
Northern Ireland had a number of penalty claims rejected in a frenetic finale and Sanchez was unhappy with Dutch referee Ruud Bossen.
“There were two blatant pushes on our players in the area but they were not given. I did not think the referee was that good, to be honest. But we have got to sort ourselves out defensively. We have lost a bit of strength in that department.”
Although it was our weakest defence in ages on paper at least. But now with Capaldi suspended, who do we play left back against Austria? Switch Duff over? Play 3-5-2? Surely we’ll stick with 4-4-2…

Northern Ireland 2 – 0 Azerbaijan

So a first home win and first competitive win (really?!) in 4 years. And Aaron Hughes’ first as captain. With George McCartney having decided not play for his country, Capaldi was on the left with Baird on the right and Craigan – preferred over Murdock – and Hughes in the middle. The midfield lacked Jeff Whitley who was sent home from the squad along with Phil Mulryne. Gillespie and Elliott were on their usual wings, with Damien Johnson and Steve Davis in the middle. Quinn and Healy up front.
Following the performance in Malta and Lawrie’s recent disciplining, the tension in the kop was evident from the start. Some comedy defending gave the Azers and early chance which they didn’t take, but the usually optimistic outlook of the masses behind Maik Taylor had been replaced by pessimism. “Always look on the bright side of life” it certainly wasn’t.
Apart from that early warning, the Azers hardly troubled us at all. Steve Davis had a great chance to put us one up, but somehow he missed from about 8 yards after he’d done all the hard work. James Quinn also had a couple of headers that weren’t far away, and a first half scoreline of 0-0 didn’t reflect the play at all.
With an hour gone, Stuart Elliott curled in a fantastic 25 yard free kick to make it 1-0 to the Ulstermen. The keeper didn’t move. (I don’t think – I wasn’t really looking at him). Then young Stuart went absolutely mad and flipped his way through the air over to the kop. Lots of badge kissing. What a guy!
Elliott had a chance after that to make it 2-0 with a header that went just wide, and we were in total control. Feeney came on for Quinn on 72 minutes, and pretty soon Jones followed for Healy, making sure they didn’t pick up bookings that would have kept them out of the England match. For once I was gutted to see Jones come on, as he plays the exact same positions as Ivan Sproule, also on the bench. However, with us leading, an ‘impact sub’ as Lawrie calls him wasn’t needed.
With 85 minutes played, Gillespie was hauled down in the box, and Warren Feeney, the only out-and-out striker on the pitch grabbed the ball, set it on the spot and coolly fired home. Well into injury time, the kop provided yet another classic: “We’re going to win 2-0” we sang. For once, we were right.
Northern Ireland: Taylor, Baird, Craigan, Hughes, Capaldi, Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott (Robinson 89), Healy (Jones 79), Quinn (Feeney 72).
Subs Not Used: Ingham, Brunt, Sproule, Murdock.
Lawrie:
“A lot of questions were asked of me and my team and I think they were answered, the players have done everything they had been asked and given the fans what they wanted.
“It was the most lopsided 2-0 you will see but I will settle for the two and settle for the clean sheet.”
Bring on the England:
“We will be professional about it but we can relax now. The pressure is off – we have won the game we had to win. England have to come here now and we are buoyant and really looking forward to it.”
Stuart:
“This victory means everything – a lot was said and done this week, especially about Lawrie.
“Lawrie is a good lad and he has worked really hard for the team. I am pleased for the manager and pleased for the fans, with this match showing we have some of the best supporters in the world.”
Captain Aaron on his first victory as captain:
“All week we have done well in training – we went out on the pitch and did everything we had done in training. We thoroughly deserved the win and for once we were 2-0 up and we could relax and pass it a round a bit.
“We said before the game that if we could go out and get a result we could then enjoy the game on Wednesday against England.”
STOP PRESS:
Hero of the hour Stuart Elliott will be taking part in a Special Sports Service in Thomas Street Methodist Church, Portadown tomorrow night (4th Sept) at 7pm.
As well as young Stuart, other local sports figures taking part will be BBC sports commentator Joel Taggart, IFA President Jim Boyce and Portadown defender, Philip Craig.
The service will be led by Rev Jim Rea, chaplain of Portadown Football Club who extends an open welcome to all, especially members of sports clubs throughout Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland 3 – 3 Austria

Northern Ireland were involved in a six goal thriller tonight at Windsor Park, in a game which we should have won but nearly lost.
After two away matches in a row, we returned to Windsor and 4-4-2. The biggest surprise on the team sheet was Roy Carroll. Lawrie’s reasoning that Maik Taylor was one yellow card away from suspension (and therefore would miss England away) sounded a bit dodgy (keepers getting booked being a rather rare occurance) but you can’t really argue with throwing in Manchester United’s current number 1 keeper. George McCartney, who looked like he would become an ever present in our team for years to come before a suspension and the emergence of Clyde and Capaldi, started his first match of our Group Six Qualifying campaign. Keith Gillespie started at right wing because Mulryne’s injured and Jones and McVeigh only joined up with the squad on Monday. Most importantly, David Healy returned up front, partnering James Quinn.
Due to a shambles of gigantic proportions at the Kop turnstiles, I (along with at least a thousand others) missed the first 20 minutes of the match, so by the time I got in we were 1-0 down. Not a great start. However, over to David Healy and BANG, one of the best goals of his career and 1-1. Then we had chances to go ahead, with the closest being a James Quinn header that forced an excellent save from Manninger.
1-1 it remained at the break and we came out in the second half attacking from the first whistle. It looked like a goal was inevitable (well, it would have done if we didn’t have the record we did) and that only one team was going to win the match. The goal did actually come. A corner was floated in and Colin Murdock casually shoved the defender out of the way before heading into the net. All eyes were on the ref, but for once a decision had gone our way.
The jubliation lasted approximately 10 seconds. The Austrians went staight down the pitch and scored – Roy Carroll making his customary once-a-game blunder. Memories of Norway – and Carroll’s other blunders – ensued. Things went from bad to worse as Colin Murdock, one of our best players in the first half, sliced a clearance and gave the visitors another goal on a plate. Cue the referee starting to try and live up to the awful standard of refs we’ve had of late, and the Austrians kicking our players when no-one was looking – and diving when they were. James Quinn got elbowed inside their penalty area. Nothing doing from the ref, so Colin Murdock went over and exacted some revenge on the boy that did it. Thankfully the ref missed that one too.
Time for Sanchez to send on the subs. Elliott, Jones and McVeigh came on. We had chances and half chances, while they were always a threat on the counter attack. Jeff Whitley was playing well again but consistently refused to shoot when given the chance, wanting instead to take that extra touch. The ref kept giving them free kicks when if anything our players were being fouled. Quinn was booked – it didn’t need a stats book to tell anyone watching him that he was out of the England match.
4 minutes of injury time. Should have been about half an hour the amount of times they’d had the physio on trying to burn down precious seconds. We get a corner. I see Royston starting to move. He keeps coming. Yes Boss! The Austrians were watching him too. The corner was cleared, but only as far as Keith Gillespie. Carroll thinks about heading back but opts to stay. Keith floats it in, Quinn heads on and Elliott scrambles in his first home international goal. It’s 3-3 and World Cup Qualification is only really a mathematical possibility. But who cares. Manninger got injured as the goal went in. Slap it up him. The ref’s had enough and blows up, with us pushing forward.
3 goals at home but 3 conceeded. Damo, Whitley and Doc looking immense in the middle and Healy and Quinn looking dangerous up front. Baird, Clyde and Capaldi all out – all 3 would have played if fit – the future of our defence looks good. Things keep moving forward anyway. Lawrie Sanchez’ Green and White Army.

Carroll, Hughes, Williams, Murdock (Elliott), McCartney, Gillespie, Johnson, Whitley (McVeigh), Doherty (Jones), Healy, Quinn
Not Used: Taylor, Craigan, Griffin, Smith
Oh aye – Sanchez wants a match in February – we’re trying to get Portugal, apparently.

Azerbaijan 0 – 0 Northern Ireland

It’s hard to revert back to international mode after watching your club side totally outplay the league leaders, so the first half of tonight’s World Cup qualifier went by in a bit of a blur for me. By the time I’d stopped thinking of legends such as Tommy Wray, I found myself aware that we were playing a dirty team with a referee who was overprotecting their dodgy keeper and underprotecting our players. Our limited resources had been stretched even further since the 5 minute mark when right wing back Chris Baird had departed on a stretcher.
Nil nil at half time was alright as you felt we would get at least one goal in the second half. Stuart Elliott was pushed over in the penalty area but nothing doing. Midway through the half, the Sky TV camera brought us the picture of Andy Smith about to come on. ‘Good’ I thought – but then I saw he was replacing Quinn and I wondered if Lawrie wanted us to score tonight or not.
As it turned out, Smith could have had the winning goal. A beautiful ball from midfield found Stuart Elliott, but the whistle blew as he crossed to the feet of Smith who couldn’t have missed – the linesman with the attitude problem – who would later let Azerbaijan continue playing beyond the touchline after the ball went out – had raised his flag. Replays verified that Elliott had been 15 million miles ONSIDE.
Other than that, Whitley had a long range pile driver tipped over, but basically we weren’t good enough. This was a must win – but LS did say he would be happy with 4 points from the next 2 games. Any chance of qualification is already starting to slip away. A win over Austria on Wednesday night will no longer be a luxury – if we don’t win, that’s it for another while.
Sanchez: “We think it is two points missed. We created the majority of chances but we lacked a little bit of quality in the final third of the field. Our general finishing around the box was not what it should have been.”
Aaron Hughes: “At least we have come away with something and now we have to look for three points against Austria. We are not losing away and now we have to take our form on the road to Belfast on Wednesday.”
Taylor, Baird (Gillespie), Clyde, Williams, Hughes, Murdock, Whitley, Johnson, Doherty, Quinn (Smith), Elliott.

Wales 2 – 2 Northern Ireland

8th September 2004 – a proud night in our history.
I hate it when refereeing performances spoil matches and match reports are forced to focus on the ref, but Domenico Messina’s performance last night means that a large portion of this report will be gurning. First of all a list of all his most blatant misdemeanours to get it out of the way:
– Welsh keeper Paul Jones clearly handles the ball outside the penalty area and then (according to those who have seen it again on TV), deliberately holds on to it. Not even a booking.
– In the one decision that went our way, Robbie Savage gets sent off for getting fouled and hit by Michael Hughes, with the extent of Savage’s retaliation being a tug at Hughes’ shorts (although Savage seemingly felt guilty enough about his reaction to blub to the tv cameras about how he had let everyone down)
– David Healy gets sent off (two yellows, apparently) for doing his customary goal celebration, which involved making a gesture to his family.
– Tony Capaldi attempts to cut inside a defender in the Welsh penalty area and is blatantly tripped. No penalty.
– Ref gives a free kick for a foul on Andy Smith by the last man. The laws of the game state that the defender should have walked. Not even a booking.
So, where to start the actual report? Talking about the 4,500 strong Northern Irish contingent wouldn’t go amiss. Green, flags, green, balloons, constant singing, green. The Welsh, with nearly 60,000 more than us, just sat (yes, sat) there most of the night and I’m not sure they even sung at all. They did boo our National Anthem though which sickened me and fairly riled our support.
Apart from the Jones handball incident mentioned above, nothing much happened till the 8th minute when Michael Hughes decided he’d had enough of Robbie Savage’s run down our right flank, and cynically took him out. The foul itself could have warranted a red card on its own on some days, but Michael made sure by flooring the long haired Welshman as soon as he had got up again. The immediate anguish felt in the stands on seeing another red produced for one of our players lasted only a split second however as the manic Italian waved the card at Savage too! I was quite optimistic about our chances, partly because I suspect we’re more used to having players sent off than Wales but mainly because I thought that with the 3-5-2 formation we had started with, we wouldn’t miss Hughes too much in the middle of the park.
Two minutes after the tie had become a ten on ten encounter, Jeffrey Whitley, who had been displaying some of the worst shooting ever against Poland, buried the ball into the corner of the net from the edge of the box, after Mark Clyde’s free kick had only been half cleared. Oh yes.
Then, with 21 minutes played, Wales centre half James Collins (who had become my favourite Welshman ever by the end of the night) kicked the air when he should have been clearing a long ball, and Healy was clean through. His initital shot was saved, I thought the chance was gone, but suddenly the ball is coming down right in front of their net and Healy is there to head in with Jones helplessly looking on. It was 2-0 and the way we were playing there was no way we weren’t going to win the match. Colin Murdock, bang in the middle of the defence, was winning every header – the only ones ‘Howlin Mad’ were the Welsh. Aaron Hughes and Mark Williams alongside him weren’t letting anything past them. Mark Clyde was putting in one of the most assured debuts ever, keeping Gary Speed at bay just as he would later nullify the threat of Bellamy. Tony Capaldi, at left wing back, was making sure we forgot all about Saturday, his one poor game for us to date. In fact, he was getting forward well and had a hattrick of chances throughout the match, forcing two good saves from Jones as well as sending a free kick straight at the Welsh keeper. DJ and Whitley were working well in the middle and Healy and Quinn looked dangerous up front.
Sentiments such as those above flash through your head in seconds as you stand there yelling with delight. It took just a few more seconds for me to divert my attention away from a phone call with a chum at home ringing to celebrate the goal, to seeing the highest goalscorer in our history walking towards the tunnel – and as the realisation spread, nearly 5,000 Ulstermen and women turned from ecstatic joy to seething anger and confusion. Nine men would have to face the home side for the remaining 68 minutes of the match (plus all the injury time the maniac in the middle decided to add on). Quinn went up front, with Capaldi taking tours up front on the rare occasions we could spare him. A Welsh goal was the most inevitable thing ever. We tried to hold on till half time: it wasn’t to be. With 31 minutes played, Big Bad John Hartson managed to jump without fouling anybody and headed past Maik Taylor from 8 yards.
After a quick pause to consume the strangest attempt at a Hot Dog I’ve ever seen it was back out to the best attempt at a stadium I’ve ever seen – for the remainder of the longest football match of my life. The vast majority of the half was Wales pressure – thankfully their crossing wasn’t up to much and their finishing was wild. Capaldi had one good chance but his shot was very well saved by Jones, and then he was dragged down in their box as I mentioned at the start. 3-1 would have been game over, even with 9 men, but the referee seemed to want to give the home side all the help he could. In the 75th minute, just as we were maybe beginning to think that we could hold on, we finally missed the crucial defensive header in our box and Earnshaw gave Wales the equaliser.
The arrogant Welsh now fancied themselves to complete their comeback so it was time to put all thoughts of the three points we deserved to the back of our minds and strive to hold on to what we’d got. In the 88th minute, it nearly all went pearshaped. Bellamy finally decided that rather than crossing the ball, he would attempt a tour into our penalty area. Him and his fellow trolls obviously didn’t realise that our defence didn’t possess the quickest legs in the world or they would have tried it before. Clyde was usually there to stop them but there were a few times when they could have but opted to display their woeful crossing instead. Anyway, Bellamy cut inside, flew past the first challenge and passed the ball across the face of the ball. Maik Taylor was completely beaten. That man James Collins arrived at the far post. The angle was pretty tight but he had at least two red shirts standing in more central areas. Anyway, young Jamesy somehow miskicks it wide. At this stage I was still horrified because I could hear cheering all around me. I knew it was the NI fans but I saw a Welsh boy standing nearly on our goal line with his two arms in the air. Finally however it becomes clear that the Welsh boy had managed to miss it and we had our point.
NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Hughes (c), Murdock, Williams, Clyde, Johnson, Hughes, Whitley, Capaldi (McCartney 90), Healy, Quinn (Smith 57 (McVeigh 89))
Not used: Carroll, Craigan, Elliott, Jones
Lawrie Sanchez Interview
Healy – no obscene gesture:
“It was the biggest game of my life and when I scored that was the biggest goal of my life.
“I was so happy to score. I kicked the corner flag in celebration and I guess I could have accepted a yellow card for that.
“Then the referee sent me off for some supposed gesture. I ran towards where my family were seated in the stand behind the Welsh dugout and saluted them because I knew how much me scoring meant to them. It is the way I always celebrate and have never got in trouble for it before.”
“I have never made any sort of obscene gesture in my life and never would. I have seen the incident on television and am convinced the referee over-reacted.”
The striker has now asked the Irish FA to consider an appeal.
“I don’t feel I deserve to be suspended. I have not missed a game since I made my international debut four years ago and I don’t want to start now.”
Clifford Healy backs up his son:
“In any game that David scores, he comes to where his family sit” Clifford told the BBC.
“When he scored, he came over to us and gestured as he normally does.
“We were not sitting with the main group of Northern Ireland supporters, but were in the other stand. He was just gesturing to us. If anybody knows my son, they realise that it’s not rude. He was also blowing kisses up to us. Is that rude? I spoke to him after the game and naturally he couldn’t believe it.
“There was an unbelievable atmosphere in the stadium throughout the game, and indeed after it. Unfortunately it was spoiled by the officials. I felt they ruined a great and fiercely-fought game between two British teams.”
AWS Man of the Match Mark Clyde on his debut:
“I was a bit shocked to get the nod but as soon as I was told I was in I couldn’t wait to get out and play. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it – the atmosphere was incredible with our fans singing non stop. Craig Bellamy was up against me quite a lot and while he has great pace I thought we coped. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t hold on for the win, although we would have settled for a draw before the game.”

Northern Ireland 0 – 3 Poland

It’s hard to think of a worse possible start to a World Cup Qualifying campaign than to concede a goal direct from a corner after only 3 minutes. However that’s exactly what we did, and then we gifted Poland another 2 goals. Craigan was next to get in on the act as he completely failed to clear the ball, gifting the visitors a goal – and then Tony Capaldi failed to clear the first man with a free kick and with our defence stranded in the opposition box, the Poles were free to bomb on down the pitch and end any chance we might have had of getting back in the match.
If I recall correctly we didn’t manage a shot on target till we were 3-0 down. We did appear to play better after the third went in, although at least part of this was surely down to Poland easing off. Healy and Quinn had shots on target, but neither troubled Dudek. Quinn then got the ball on the edge of the area but failed to pass it to Jones who was free and lost it. Captain Aaron forced a fantastic save from Dudek from about 8 yards, and then completely missed the target with a free header from a about 6 soon after.
I seem to end up being disgusted with most teams that come to Windsor these days for their dirty play and Poland were no exception with the referee aiding and abetting them until the 80th minute when he gave one of them a straight red card. We should have had a penalty towards the end for a foul on Smith, but then the Poles should have had one in the first half after Craigan (I think) dragged one of them down in our box.
Regarding team selection…Lawrie had to take a decision on the defence because of McCartney’s suspension and Baird’s injury. I for one wouldn’t be comfortable starting an international match with Williams and Craigan as my central pair, but they’ve played together in a lot of our recent matches and Sanchez took the chance.
I would have been rather angrified if Stuart Elliott hadn’t started given his recent form, but thankfully he did. Sadly he didn’t have much impact. DJ got a rare start in his club position for his country. Hughes and Whitley weren’t a great pair in the middle. I’m not one of these boys who has their sport by slating Jeff so I would have played DJ in the middle beside him and Jones on the right. (Although I wouldn’t have left Tommy Doc out of the squad to start with. Sorry, just can’t let it go..) No complaints about Healy and Quinn up front. Just about everybody had a poor game. Healy looked good and McVeigh hardly put a foot wrong when he came on.
Thankfully we’ve the match against Wales on Wednesday so an early chance to put this behind us. It will be a relief to see George McCartney in sorting out that defence. Hopefully Steve Jones is given a start because he’s long overdue one. An awful start but all is by no means lost. See yous in Cardiff!
NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, Hughes (c), Craigan, Williams, Capaldi, Johnson, Whitley, Hughes (Jones), Elliott (McVeigh), Healy, Quinn (Smith)
Not used: Royston, Clyde, Gillespie, Murdock

Sanchez interiew | Aaron Hughes interview (video) | Stuart Elliott interview

Trinidad and Tobago 0 – 3 Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland finished their Caribbean Tour in the best possible fashion, recording a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago which saw David Healy become our highest goalscorer of all time.
It took young Healy just 4 minutes to equal the previous record and open the scoring, lobbing the ‘keeper from 40 yards with a quickly taken free kick. The home side had a great chance to equalise on 38 minutes when Maik Taylor somehow kept out a header from his Birmingham City colleague Stern John.
Three minutes later Northern Ireland were 2-0 up as Healy, who either scored or set up every goal on the Tour, crossed for Stuart Elliot to side foot home.
Healy claimed his 14th Northern Ireland goal, and the record, when he tapped in a Philip Mulyne cross with 65 minutes played.
The man himself:
“I just do not want to break this record. I want to go on and score more goals for my country and possibly set a mark.
It is an honour to play for Northern Ireland but to be known as their top goalscorer is something else.
I just want to be consistent for my country. I just want to put away the chances that I am presented with – that is my job.”
Lawrie:
“I really think this win will build our confidence significantly as we go into our World Cup qualifiers.
With this win, we have a five-game unbeaten streak and if my memory serves me correctly this has not been done by Northern Ireland in the last 25 years.”
Taylor (Mannus 82), Baird, Williams, Craigan (Murdock 46), Capaldi, Mulryne (Sonner 72), Johnson (Gillespie 72), Whitley, Elliott (Jones 46), Healy (McVeigh 65), Quinn (Smith 61)

St Kitts and Nevis 0 – 2 Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland recorded their first Caribbean Tour win at the second attempt last night, and Lawrie Sanchez’ men have now gone 4 games unbeaten.
It could have been another embarassing outing for the Ulstermen, but late goals from substitutes David Healy and Steve Jones gave us the win that was expected.
Substitute Keith Gillespie had an effort ruled out for offside in the 72nd minute before Healy opened the scoring in the 81st, with his 12th International goal. The Preston North End striker was presented with a tap in after a Philip Mulryne cross.
Healy set up the winning goal as well, crossing for Steve Jones to score his first goal for Northern Ireland and seal the game, 5 minutes after the opener.
Lawrie Sanchez was happy with the result:
“All credit to the boys. It is now a four-match undefeated run and that is nice. “It is really a nice day for us. We won by two goals and we played quite well.
This shows that we can win matches. We drew with Barbados, who are a bit above us in the FIFA rankings, and then we beat St Kitts.
So we have done everything that has been asked of us. I am happy.”
Maik Taylor, Chris Baird, Stephen Craigan, Colin Murdock, Tony Capaldi, Paul McVeigh, Danny Sonner (Jones 52), Jeff Whitley (Gillespie 65), Stuart Elliott (Mulyne 65), Andy Smith, Gary Hamilton (Healy 69).
Not used: Johnson, Quinn