The home supporters who had waited so long for a victory, and finally had their patience rewarded as goals from Stuart Elliott and Warren Feeney earned Northern Ireland a much deserved victory over Azerbaijan in their World Cup qualifier.

After a particularly nervous start,the boys in green began to dominate the game, but failed to turn their pressure into the goals they deserved.Azerbaijan produced their best moments in the opening 15 minutes and the home side had an early let-off when a long ball from Makhmum Gurbanov found Zaud Tagizade but the winger pulled the ball across the face of goal.

Northern Ireland's first serious attack saw James Quinn get on the end of a deep Keith Gillespie cross but the ball was cleared to safety. Quinn had the ball in the Azerbaijan net on 33 minutes, but the effort was ruled out as he had clattered into goalkeeper Dmitry Kramarenko.A minute later, Quinn latched onto another Gillespie cross but the Peterborough man's header went just wide.

Aston Villa youngster Davis then wasted a glorious chance to put Northern Ireland ahead when he somehow stabbed the ball wide from close-range,when it would have been easier to score,after some sloppy play in the Azerbaijan defence.

Northern Ireland continued to press after half-time and their efforts were eventually rewarded on the hour when Elliott floated a glorious 25-yard free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.

Elliott's delightful curling effort gave goalkeeper Kramarenko absolutely no chance and the celebrations on the Northern Ireland bench showed just how much the goal meant to the squad,after such a difficult build-up to the match.The Hull striker was inches away from adding a second goal 10 minutes later but his close-range header was inches wide of the Azerbaijan goal.However, the Irish did add to their lead with five minutes left after Gillespie had been hauled down in the box by Rafael Amirbekov.Warren Feeney, who had come on for David Healy, sidefooted home from the spot to make the game safe for Lawrie Sanchez's side.

The win is a badly-needed boost for the Irish ahead of Wednesday's qualifier against England at Windsor Park, a game that they can now look forward to, having finally broken their 'duck'.

Northern Ireland:
Taylor, Baird, Hughes, Craigan, Capaldi, Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott (Robinson 89), Healy (Jones 79), Quinn (Feeney 72).
Subs Not Used: Ingham, Brunt, Sproule, Murdock.
Goals:: Elliott 60, Feeney 85 pen.

AzerbaijanKramarenko, Amirbekov, Tagizade (Nabiev 84), Muzika, Imamaliyev, Makhmud Gurbanov (Ponomaryov 65), Sadygov, Guliyev, Hajivev, Kerimov, Aliyev (Shukurov 74).
Subs Not Used: Hasanzade, Guliev, Alim Gurbanov, Melikov.

Booked:Guliyev, Aliyev, Amirbekov, Sadygov.

Att:14,000

Referee:Dejan Stanisic (Serbia & Montenegro)

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati