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At the time of writing Ollie Norwood is still
awaiting his first full international goal.
However, the on-loan Fulham midfielder has
managed to score on the international stage
- in an under-21 fixture against the Czech
Republic. It came on 17 November 2009
when he curled home a wonderful free-kick
in a qualifying encounter at the Ballymena
Showgrounds (NB: all statistics were correct
prior to San Marino game on Friday).
Steven Davis has played 45 of
his 95 international matches at
the National Football Stadium
at Windsor Park. To date he
has been on the winning side
23 times and tasted defeat
on just 13 occasions. The
Southampton midfielder is
now catching up with stalwart
defender Aaron Hughes who
has played 54 of his 106
matches in Belfast.
If Ryan McLaughlin manages to find
the net for Northern Ireland he will
become the first Oldham Athletic
player to score for ‘our wee country’
since Billy Johnston got on the
scoresheet in a 4-1 friendly victory
over Mexico on 22 June 1966.
Northern Ireland have played international
matches on 4 September on five previous
occasions, winning one, drawing one and
losing three. The full list is:
2016 v Czech Republic (a) WCQ drew 0-0
2015 v Faroe Islands (a)
ECQ won 3-1
2004 v Poland (h)
WCQ lost 0-3
1999 v Turkey (h)
ECQ
lost 0-3
1974 v Norway (a)
ECQ
lost 1-2
Northern Ireland have scored
32 goals in 20 matches at the
National Football Stadium
during Michael O’Neill’s
tenure. Those goals have been
spread among 14 players
with, not surprisingly, Kyle
Lafferty leading the way with
nine. His nearest challenger
is skipper Steven Davis who
has managed four, including
a memorable brace against
Greece that sealed a place at
Euro 2016.