FOOTBALL: Northern Ireland end away hoodoo
CORRY Evans was the hero as Northern Ireland started their Euro 2012 campaign with an impressive win in Slovenia.
Evans' goal in the 70th minute gave Nigel Worthington's team a 1-0 victory in Maribor on Friday night.
The Manchester United midfielder said afterwards: "I haven't scored for Northern Ireland since I was a schoolboy, so to get on the scoresheet in such an important match is fantastic.
"We've had our criticism over our away form and for not being able to score goals, so to win away with a clean sheet is great."
The next game is against group favourites Italy and Evans added: "We'll give it our best at Windsor Park and see what happens."
Goalkeeper Maik Taylor, 39 today, said: "The boys put their bodies on the line and worked extremely hard.
"Our preparation was fantastic in the week and we had plenty of confidence – but the boys dug in."
On his birthday celebrations, the Birmingham player added: "I'm up early in the morning so I'll limit it to a couple and have a proper celebration tomorrow night."
Manager Nigel Worthington said: "I thought the way we played in the first half was fantastic. We had a game-plan, stuck to it and caused them problems.
"We started the second half slowly but defended well. We knew Slovenia would throw the kitchen sink at us but we got our blocks in, it was fantastic."
Worthington hailed his youngsters, adding: "I'm delighted with Craig Cathcart, he did a good solid job, stuck to it – great credit to him.
"I have no fears about Corry, I've worked with him for three years.
"He showed what he can do and not just with his goal, while young Jonny Gorman came on and showed maturity as well.
"Overall our performance was superb. The players deserve all the credit because they worked hard all week and stuck to the game-plan tonight.
"It gives us a nice start to the campaign and now we'll look forward to meeting up for the Italy game at Windsor Park next month.
"Tonight was a great result."
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
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Wind direction: North west
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