Northern Ireland remain second in their group after a nail biting one-all draw in Poland. Kyle Lafferty put the away side in front in the first half after a fantastic ball by David Healy. Both sides had good chances but the finishing just wasn’t there. Martin Paterson should have put the away side 2-0 up in the second half but his shot went just wide of the post. Then some good up play from Poland gave them a goal through the rather unfortunate Aaron Hughes. Northern Ireland play Slovakia on Wednesday night knowing that a win will put them in first place in their group.
Aaron Hughes captained the side while Chris Baird was an unused substitute.
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Given the way Poland were battering the Northern Ireland goal, I think that’s a good result away from home. Would have been lovely to grab the win but there was a serious danger of losing it in the last few minutes. Thought Hughes and young Jonny Evans were outstanding in defence and our old boy Maik Taylor had a great game as well.
If they can get that win at Windsor Park on Wednesday, they’ll give themselves an excellent chance of making the finals.
Interview with Hughesy here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8240183.stm
Once Lafferty went off we where disappointing and my heart was in my mouth! The Czechs did us a favour by drawing with Slovakia. A good win on Wednesday will put us on very good track to a possible automatic promotion place depending on how the other teams do. But I need to not get ahead of myself as we have played an extra game!