Northern Ireland seek happy ending
Nigel Worthington will be looking for Northern Ireland to end on a high
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By Matthew Champion. |  |
Wednesday, 14, Oct 2009 02:00
By Michael Younger.
Despite hopes of qualification effectively over, unless group three whipping boys San Marino pull off a shock against Slovenia, over two thousand Northern Ireland fans will make the trip to Prague's Synot Tip Arena.
Nigel Worthington's green and white army go into tonight's clash on the back of a disappointing defeat and with the squad disrupted due to a multitude of injuries.
Out of what promises to be an entertaining affair are Martin Paterson (knee), George McCartney (foot), Chris Brunt (calf), Jamie Ward (hamstring), Sammy Clingan (broken foot) and Rangers duo Andy Little (hamstring) and Kyle Lafferty (chest infection).
"Even though we are missing eight players, I am focussing on the players that are here," said Worthington.
"This is an opportunity to assess the players who have come in and it is their chance to show me what they can do.
"I have watched the Czech Republic a few times recently, and though they had a slow start to the group they are still a great team and I am looking forward to a great game.
"Although qualification is now gone I would love to finish the group on a high and end with a good result."
Midfielder Damien Johnson has echoed Worthington's sentiments, as he calls on his teams mate to finish the campaign on a high by putting on a show for the fans.
"Everybody knows we let ourselves down in the last game," he said of the match against Slovakia at the weekend.
"What was so disappointing about the Slovakian result was that we had got ourselves in such a good position in the group, but there are no excuses, we were just very poor on the night.
"However this is now our chance to put things right and put on a performance for the supporters who, as usual, have been tremendous throughout the campaign."
The Czech Republic themselves seem resigned to the fact that they will not be competing at next summer's World Cup finals, despite claiming maximum points from their last two games following a 7-0 drubbing of minnows San Marino and a comfortable 2-0 win over Poland last weekend.