World Cup qual. - Worthington hails 'fantastic' Irish

Eurosport - Sun, 29 Mar 10:30:00 2009

Nigel Worthington saluted his "fantastic" Northern Ireland side after they defeated Poland 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier in Belfast.

FOOTBALL 2008 World Cup qual. Northern Ireland Nigel Worthington - 0

The home side stretched their unbeaten home record in competitive games to eight matches with the Group 3 win at Windsor Park.

Warren Feeney made the breakthrough in the 10th minute only for Ireneusz Jelen to equalise for Poland before half-time.

However, the province came storming back and Jonny Evans restored their lead a minute into the second half with his first goal at this level.

Northern Ireland then sealed the points with a bizarre own goal from Michal Zewlakow in the 61st minute, his back pass bobbling over the feet of Artur Boruc.

It was just the boost Worthington was looking for with Slovenia due to visit Belfast on Wednesday.

He said: "Poland are a good team but when we have big matches Windsor Park becomes a fortress. That's what you want because sadly our away form tends to let us down.

"That is something we will continue to look at.

"Tonight was a proper Northern Ireland performance and the lads were fantastic.

"I have confidence in the players and we quietly fancied ourselves. We carried on the good work from training.

"We did our homework and it worked for us. I was delighted with the level of performance. We played good football and were very competitive. We showed great energy.

"We started well, pushed them back and went ahead. When they got their goal it rocked us for 10 minutes.

"But we stayed solid, kept our shape and got through to half-time. Then to produce that level of performance for the last 45 minutes was phenomenal.

"I cannot speak highly enough of the players."

Evans is getting a run of games at Manchester United and Worthington believes the youngster is benefiting from the experience.

"He has played a lot of games for a young player, especially when you look at the likes of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, " said the former Norwich boss.

"He is a super player and I am just delighted he is Northern Irish.

"As for the first goal, the fans and Feeney chased the ball down and we got the goal. I told him to go and enjoy it and he has got his reward.

"The pitch was a bit rough but you would expect that at this time of the season but the players adapted to it very well."

Worthington is now looking for his team to build on their victory against Slovenia.

He added: "The players will have a nice night and will be back in to work tomorrow.

"The big thing is we cannot have "after the Lord Mayor's show" on Wednesday. That would be a crime as we want to stay top of the table.

"We outplayed Slovenia earlier in the campaign but they beat us and we owe them one."

TeamTalk / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 9

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  1. N.Irish fans gonna be abslutely hammered in Poland this­ September.wouldn't advice them to travel there

    From kuras78, on Sun 29 Mar 9:57PM

  2. "What were the polish fans wearing Celtic jerseys­ for its got nothing to do with polish football"­ Quote by N Iron fan in local paper.What were N Iron­ fans doing in rangers and linfield jersys whats that­ got to do with N Iron football.There is a simmering­ hatred from a large section of the local support for­ Art and his fellow country men so they found it all so­ easy to be offended by a few Celtic jerseys.

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Sun 29 Mar 12:39PM

  3. Spending money on a national stadia for these thugs. ­ How many schools and hostipals would 120 mill build.­ Keep them in the hell hole called windsor.Limit the­ crowd to about 1500 and charge the ifa for the policing

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Sun 29 Mar 12:20PM

  4. Not content with kicking the living day lights out of­ each other linfield and glentoran fans join forces with­ their kkk friendly leader gregory and attack polish­ football fans. Its just the vision n ireland needs to­ promote tourism.Thank god for rugby at least it rises­ above the dirt that walks the streets of belfast

    From thetwotoedsloth, on Sun 29 Mar 12:16PM

  5. Polish fans wreck weatherspoons bar, Polish fans throw­ bottles at Northern Ireland fans outside Hunters, or­ what ever its called now, and kick and smash cars along­ Lisburn Road... Polish fans throw bottles & flares­ at police inside Windsor & raise anti Northern­ Ireland / British flags..
    If this happened too your­ part of the town you lived in, would you be happy and­ stand aside and watch !

    From belfastchris, on Sun 29 Mar 11:01AM

  6. It wasnt a pitch too pass on for starters, we may not­ made three passes, but we got three goals and three­ points and i see the same on Wedensday.. Handanovic is­ going to have three put past him!!

    From belfastchris, on Sun 29 Mar 10:55AM

  7. Linesman hit by object thrown by N.Ireland fans, after­ Poland scored.
    11 Police injured by N.Ireland fans.
    But­ the PSNI blame the Poles. Same old. Even Gregory­ Campbell blamed the Poles
    for supporting Republicans.­ Oh Dear.

    From Stephen D, on Sun 29 Mar 10:52AM

  8. i hope you irish don't call your game football,­ you­ can't make three passes together...we're­ gonna­ beat you again on wednesday

    SLOVENIJA

    From dragan_9, on Sun 29 Mar 10:46AM

  9. 45th minute, Artur Bourc crosses himself in full view­ in front of the Northern Ireland fans... 61st minute,­ back pass bobbling over the feet of Artur Boruc into­ the goal !! ................We believe in Bourc's­ god!!

    From belfastchris, on Sun 29 Mar 10:43AM
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