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Northern Ireland moved into second in World Cup qualifying Group 3 with a comfortable victory against San Marino thanks to goals from Gareth McAuley, Grant McCann and Chris Brunt.

McAuley scored his first goal for the province with a superb half-volley in the seventh minute following a corner from McCann.

McCann then finished well from the edge of the area in the 32nd minute after Martin Paterson's effort had been blocked.

Substitute Brunt scored the goal that took Nigel Worthington's men second on goal difference late in the second half, with the home side having Michele Marini sent off for a studs-up challenge on Stephen Craigan.

However, the victory came at a cost, with Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis missing the next qualifier against Poland after picking up needless bookings.

Despite torrential rain earlier in the day, the pitch looked in decent condition and the match went ahead as scheduled.

Northern Ireland took the lead with McAuley's first goal at this level, the Ipswich full-back crashing home inside the box.

The visitors extended their lead in the 32nd minute with another fine strike, McCann rifling a shot into the corner from 18 yards after cutting on to his weaker right foot 20 yards out.

Record-scorer David Healy was unable to get himself into the thick of things as the game began to drift, with Northern Ireland unable to increase the tempo and find space in the hard-working San Marino defence.

Worthington made his first change in the 55th minute, bringing on Brunt for Lafferty, and the West Brom man made an immediate impact to put the province 3-0 ahead in the 63rd minute, driving in a 25-yard free-kick that went under the body of the goalkeeper as it skipped through a crowd of legs.

San Marino were reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute when Marani was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.

Northern Ireland continued to pour forward in a bid to add to their goal tally but the home side held firm.

Albania missed the chance to go top of 2010 World Cup qualifying Group 1 after drawing 0-0 with Malta.

Albania have six points from five matches, one behind Denmark and Hungary. Portugal and Sweden have five points and Malta one.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport