NI v Czech Republic

DID YOU KNOW?

Words: Marshall Gillespie

Northern Ireland have previously played 12

internationals on a Monday though only two of them have taken place at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park. The first was against Hungary on 7 September 2015 when Kyle Lafferty hit a dramatic 92nd-minute equaliser, a result which went a long way to ensuring qualification for Euro 2016. The only other game was in March last year when Conor

Washington scored on his home debut to secure a 1-0 friendly win over Slovenia.

The top Northern Ireland scorers in England and Scotland during 2016-17 were: Liam Boyce (Ross County) 24 in 40 games Billy Kee (Accrington Stanley) 15 in 46 games Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) 13 in 50 games Shay McCartan (Accrington Stanley) 11 in 39 games

England striker Gary Lineker never received a yellow or red card during his eight-year international career which spanned 88 games. Likewise our very own Niall McGinn has yet to earn the wrath of referees in his 52 appearances to date for Northern Ireland.

This evening will be the sixth time that we will have played Czech Republic in a full international. Northern Ireland have failed to win any of the previous five meetings although the last three games between the countries have all ended in scoreless draws. Our full record against the Czechs is: 04.09.16 Prague (WCQ) drew 0-0 14.10.09 Prague (WCQ) drew 0-0 10.09.08 Belfast (WCQ) drew 0-0 06.06.01 Teplice (WCQ) lost 1-3 24.03.01 Belfast (WCQ) lost 0-1

The last player to score on his international debut for Northern Ireland was defender George McCartney who headed home a Keith Gillespie cross in a 3-0 success against Iceland at Windsor Park on 5 September 2001 (exactly 16 years ago tomorrow).

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