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.
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!