A Wee Spot in Europe

The Hibs boss told the Edinburgh Evening News that Sproule’s decision to stay in Scotland had been vindicated by him winning his first cap:

Ivan Sproule, behind a worried England boss, seconds away from making his Northern Ireland debut
“Hopefully this will help convince Ivan he can make it.
“Everyone has their own individual character, traits and personality and, after one or two chats, he made the decision that he wanted to stay and stick it out.
“It was a brave decision, and one I felt at the time was right.
“Being capped in such a historic match was Ivan’s reward, but the challenge for him now is to try to force himself into the international scene on a regular basis and not to become a one-cap wonder. That has to be his motivation and driving force.”

Here are some clips of Jackie Fullerton from BBC NI last night on the game for your listening pleasure:
On the goal (duration 1 min 1 second)
And just that already legendary “Can you believe it?” quote
Here’s a transcript of words which will no doubt be appearing on commemorative t-shirts soon:
“It’s legendary that I say “can you believe it” but CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!”
I’ve also just downloaded the whole of 5live’s Sport on Five from last night (40.5MB!!) so hopefully I’ll have some clips from Alan Green (he tried to claim he was a proud Ulsterman) and co soon too. Terry Butcher bleated on for ages and ages that Healy was ‘3 yards offside’ – Craigan should go back to Motherwell and sort him out. The kop singing on the 5live commentary is great, comes across even better than on tv.

Here are some clips of Jackie Fullerton from BBC NI last night on the game for your listening pleasure:
On the goal (duration 1 min 1 second)
And just that already legendary “Can you believe it?” quote
Here’s a transcript of words which will no doubt be appearing on commemorative t-shirts soon:
“It’s legendary that I say “can you believe it” but CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!”
I’ve also just downloaded the whole of 5live’s Sport on Five from last night (40.5MB!!) so hopefully I’ll have some clips from Alan Green (he tried to claim he was a proud Ulsterman) and co soon too. Terry Butcher bleated on for ages and ages that Healy was ‘3 yards offside’ – Craigan should go back to Motherwell and sort him out. The kop singing on the 5live commentary is great, comes across even better than on tv.

“”When David scored, I just stood and looked up at our fans on the Kop and I was in awe.” James Quinn
BT: How the best fans in the world inspired our boys

England captain David Beckham salutes the Norn Iron fans at the end of the match
My favourite article in the English press about it:
SVEN GORAN Eriksson walked into the Linfield Social Club lounge and with his head bowed he took his seat at a little wooden round table…

“”When David scored, I just stood and looked up at our fans on the Kop and I was in awe.” James Quinn
BT: How the best fans in the world inspired our boys

England captain David Beckham salutes the Norn Iron fans at the end of the match
My favourite article in the English press about it:
SVEN GORAN Eriksson walked into the Linfield Social Club lounge and with his head bowed he took his seat at a little wooden round table…

Beckham:
“I was impressed by the Northern Ireland supporters at Old Trafford but they were even better on their home patch.
“We knew, just like the Northern Ireland players, that the fans would be up for this game but we didn’t realise how much.
“The passion they showed was incredible.
“I’m not just saying this but I’ve always loved the Northern Ireland people.
“The noise they created during and after the match was amazing. It was a tremendous show of support for the team.”

David:
“It wasn’t the sweetest strike I’ve ever hit but it was definitely the sweetest moment in my career. It will go down as the most memorable as well because it was against England and it proved to be the winner.
“We are billed amongst the minnows of the world and now we have beaten the superstars of England. It is an unbelievable feeling.
“It is so great for all of our fans and all of the country. We have had some bad times and I know everyone in Northern Ireland will rejoice at what we have done.
“We have made the impossible possible. It is so pleasing for the manager, all the staff and all the players and all our families.
“It was Lawrie who made us believe. He scored the shock winning goal in the FA Cup final for Wimbledon against Liverpool and he kept telling us that we had to believe that we could beat England.”
“Steve showed tremendous composure to play me in. Initially I had pressurised their goalkeeper to scuff his kick and then Steve got hold of the ball and delivered a great pass for me to run on to. I knew I was still onside because Ashley Cole came across to try and stop me. Then I hit it and the next thing I knew the ball was in the net.
“It was sensational to score in front of the Kop and then celebrate with our fans. They were truly magnificent. They always are but they raised the bar this time. They were going berserk long before the game started.
“In fact they were going crazy in Belfast and all over the country well before then. The buzz has been remarkable in the country and the players have reacted positively to it. All the boys deserve so much credit for putting in so much work. And now we have our reward.
“We have to build on this and hopefully we can get good results against Wales and Austria next month. England will bounce back because they are a world class side but this is our night. It is so special to be part of this. It is a magical feeling. We really are in dreamland.”
Lawrie on us:
“There was only 14,000 in there. Can you believe that?”
“This lot, our lot, outsung the Welsh fans in Cardiff, five thousand to sixty-odd thousand. They outsung the English fans at Old Trafford, six-and-a-half thousand to sixty-odd thousand. Tonight there was no contest”.

Belfast Telegraph – “Who are ya?”

Beckham:
“I was impressed by the Northern Ireland supporters at Old Trafford but they were even better on their home patch.
“We knew, just like the Northern Ireland players, that the fans would be up for this game but we didn’t realise how much.
“The passion they showed was incredible.
“I’m not just saying this but I’ve always loved the Northern Ireland people.
“The noise they created during and after the match was amazing. It was a tremendous show of support for the team.”

David:
“It wasn’t the sweetest strike I’ve ever hit but it was definitely the sweetest moment in my career. It will go down as the most memorable as well because it was against England and it proved to be the winner.
“We are billed amongst the minnows of the world and now we have beaten the superstars of England. It is an unbelievable feeling.
“It is so great for all of our fans and all of the country. We have had some bad times and I know everyone in Northern Ireland will rejoice at what we have done.
“We have made the impossible possible. It is so pleasing for the manager, all the staff and all the players and all our families.
“It was Lawrie who made us believe. He scored the shock winning goal in the FA Cup final for Wimbledon against Liverpool and he kept telling us that we had to believe that we could beat England.”
“Steve showed tremendous composure to play me in. Initially I had pressurised their goalkeeper to scuff his kick and then Steve got hold of the ball and delivered a great pass for me to run on to. I knew I was still onside because Ashley Cole came across to try and stop me. Then I hit it and the next thing I knew the ball was in the net.
“It was sensational to score in front of the Kop and then celebrate with our fans. They were truly magnificent. They always are but they raised the bar this time. They were going berserk long before the game started.
“In fact they were going crazy in Belfast and all over the country well before then. The buzz has been remarkable in the country and the players have reacted positively to it. All the boys deserve so much credit for putting in so much work. And now we have our reward.
“We have to build on this and hopefully we can get good results against Wales and Austria next month. England will bounce back because they are a world class side but this is our night. It is so special to be part of this. It is a magical feeling. We really are in dreamland.”
Lawrie on us:
“There was only 14,000 in there. Can you believe that?”
“This lot, our lot, outsung the Welsh fans in Cardiff, five thousand to sixty-odd thousand. They outsung the English fans at Old Trafford, six-and-a-half thousand to sixty-odd thousand. Tonight there was no contest”.

Belfast Telegraph – “Who are ya?”

Wow.
I’ve just typed the scoreline I’ve dreamed about for years. The one dreams are made of. NORTHERN IRELAND 1 ENGLAND 0 (HEALY). But it’s not a dream, it’s for real. Northern Ireland’s greatest result ever (as far as I’m concerned). The highlight of my football supporting career. It beats that night in Wales, it beats the times Stute beat Linfield at home, it beats the time we stuffed the Glens, it even beats the 9th of November 2002 – 2-1 down to Linfield at Windsor when Snowy scores his best goal ever to level things in the 80th minute, before scoring the winner in the 93rd.
It’s half 3 here..too late to be writing a match report. My throat’s killing me. Let’s divide the match up into a few sections:
The first half:

From the kick off I thought it was just a matter of “when” England scored, and also “how many”, but after a while we started to play half decently. The kop got Rooney riled, he got booked, and Beckham had to try and calm him down, but the England captain only got sworn at for his troubles

I don’t remember us having too many chances in front of the railway stand. SWP looked threatening every time he got the ball on the right wing. Aaron Hughes had to make a great last ditch tackle to stop him one time. Michael Owen also had a lovely effort at an overhead kick, and it looked like it would go in but Maik Taylor basically laughed at him and caught the ball, never mind saved it.

The second half:

We got a free kick in a great position, and with everybody up for it, Gillespie hit it straight out. What a donkey. Maybe our best chance of the match…
Quinn had a great effort from long range that hit the side netting.

Healy put a ball through but the only contact was Jimmy Quinn’s knee with Robinson’s head.
The kop were pure cheeky by this stage: “Easy, easy” had been going the whole match. “Are you Scotland in disguise?” was fantastic. Then, with 69 minutes played, we sang “1-0, we’re gonna win 1-0”. I hardly dared sing it. But as you’ll have noticed from the last report, we were right on Saturday.
Then it came. I’ve seen it about 20 times by now. 73 minutes something on the clock. Robinson puts a poor clearance upfield. Davis gets it just inside their half. He runs forward. Healy’s just come back from offside. Davis delays and then lofts the ball through. Half the England defence is playing offside, the other half isn’t. The linesman waves play on. Healy controls the ball brilliantly in the air, and then fires a superb shot past Robinson. The net bulges. The kop roars. Norn Iron 1 England 0.
But at the time, I hadn’t even seen it once. When Healy hit it, I was sure Robinson was saving it. If it had been during the goal droubt, or even any other match, surely Robinson would have palmed it away and someone would have cleared. But THE! NET! BULGED! NO OFFSIDE!! It was for real! I always thought the kop worked at the highest volume possible, but it was as if somebody had cranked it up. Somebody let off a flare. BUCK DAFT!!!! (as people kept sending me text messages saying).
Here it is in photos:






Sproule debut:
Another big highlight of the match for me. And he would have scored if Feeney hadn’t been so selfish and passed to him with a few minutes remaining.


And another highlight was of course seeing Stute play at half time – it may have been only the under 12 girls, but me, DC John and Dean completely wrecked ourselves singing for them:


Reaction:
So England’s first defeat in a qualifier under Sven. David Beckham (their best player tonight and seems a nice guy – clapped us at the start AND the end) said the defeat “hurt more than any other”.
Lawrie:
“I said to them it was about belief to win – when they went out one or two did not believe but by half-time 11 believed it.
“We were magnificent in the second half and the best team won.”
Sanchez said the Group Six success surpassed his FA Cup heroics with Wimbledon and Wycombe Wanderers.
“This has got to top it – for a small nation in world footballing terms to beat a team of the calibre of England, and their best team”
“That is David Healy’s 11th goal in 17 internationals for me. He has quality and is Premiership class.
“The fans were also magnificent and we played with an extra man – they raised the team, they believed in the team and the team gave it back in bundles.
“We have to make sure that when the European qualifiers come we can get through to a major finals.”
Captain Aaron: said the attitude of the team proved decisive at Windsor Park.
“I can’t really sum up in words what this victory means to everyone”
“Right from the the start we set about England and showed we meant business and came away with an incredible win.
“We knew what we had to do to beat England and showed that belief can sometimes bridge a gap in talent.”
Northern Ireland: Taylor, Baird, Craigan, Hughes, Capaldi, Gillespie, Davis, Johnson, Elliott (Duff 90), Quinn (Feeney 79), Healy (Sproule 88)
Not Used: Ingham, Robinson, Jones, Brunt.
Booked: Johnson, Capaldi, Baird.
BBC: Northern Ireland have last laugh

We’re now just hours away from one of the most keenly anticipated Northern Ireland matches ever – Wednesday 7th September 2005 sees Norn Iron take on England at Windsor Park in a World Cup Qualifier.

Lawrie Sanchez has, for the first time as NI manager, named an unchanged team, namely:
Taylor, Baird, Hughes, Craigan, Capaldi, Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott, Healy, Quinn.
And if he goes for the same subs that will be: Sproule, Ingham, Murdock, Robinson, Jones
On the 11 that beat the Azers, Sanchez said:
“They did well. Anybody would have been disappointed to be left out after their performance on Saturday. They are all up for it again and all ready to perform at the same level.”

And on the match tonight the boss said:
“This is the one, The game at Old Trafford was also massive, but this is the one the players and everybody associated with the team wants to be involved in. The expectations and anticipation in the build-up to the game has been great. We are not far away from the game. Now we can get down to the business of putting what we have done in training this week can towards getting a very memorable result.”
On persuading the players they could win he said:
“I need to persuade them that they can achieve beyond their capabilities. As a manager I need to make them believe in their heart of hearts that they can beat England. It depends on how many I can convince before kick-off on what sort of result and what night we get.”

England boss Sven Goran-Eriksson has pinpointed Quinn, Healy, Gillespie and Elliott as our dangermen:
“Northern Ireland can hurt us,” admitted Eriksson.
“I have watched a tape of the match against Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland didn’t allow them a single shot during the second-half.
“There are players that could cause us problems. James Quinn is big and is a threat in the air around the box. David Healy is a busy player and has a good goalscoring record for the team. Keith Gillespie was excellent against Azerbaijan and his crossing ability is one of his great qualities while Stuart Elliott on the other wing is quick and good in the air.”

David Healy said:
“The 1982 team is legendary in Northern Ireland but this match against England is our chance to record a victory of that magnitude.”
“It would be a dream come true to score and incredible to score the winner.”
“I know how much it would mean to the people of Northern Ireland to do well against a great team like England. The reaction of among the fans to the 2-0 win over Azerbaijan on Saturday was extraordinary. So just imagine what it would be like if we were to beat England.

And Maik Taylor, who could easily have been playing for England today, has no regrets about choosing Norn Iron:
“I love it. There is a great spirit in the camp and we have the best supporters in the world.”
“It would be wonderful if we could give them all one of the greatest nights ever by getting a result against England.”
To right Maik.
C’mon boys!!!