Smith and Healy partnership to break North barren spell, says Hamilton

FORMER World Cup striker Billy Hamilton believes Northern Ireland will rediscover their goal touch if the partnership of Andy Smith and David Healy is allowed to develop.

Hamilton, a key figure in the 1982 and 1986 campaigns, watched in disbelief on Wednesday night as Armenia grabbed a 1-0 victory in a European Championship qualifier.

By failing to find the target Northern Ireland set a European record for going 12 successive matches without scoring.

Smith and substitute Steve Jones missed a couple of good chances while Healy worked hard with no reward.

However, the supply to the forwards was limited after Keith Gillespie limped off on the half hour with an ankle injury.

Hamilton said: “We created a lot of chances, hit the bar and the goalkeeper made some inspired saves. But it is not going for the team and at one stage I thought the only way they would score was through an own goal.

“There were some positive performances. Aaron Hughes, George McCartney and the goalkeeper Maik Taylor were tremendous.

“Special mention should also be made of Andy Smith. For an Irish League footballer to come in and perform on the international stage like that was commendable.

“The partnership with Healy looked promising. It was just unfortunate Keith got injured. I would like to see these two boys have more time together and hopefully they will improve,” he said.

The scoring record is bound to cast a shadow over the Northern Ireland squad when they travel to Athens next month to meet group leaders Greece.

But Hamilton says the players should banish the statistics from the memory.

“I hope our lack of goals doesn’t bear too heavily on the players minds,” he said.

“If you go out thinking you are not going to score, you will never score.”

Midfielder Damien Johnson is ruled out of the final qualifier after collecting his second yellow card of the campaign.

However, Michael Hughes will be available. He sat out last night’s match because of a ban.

Northern Ireland captain Aaron Hughes remains upbeat about the future.

“We are building a squad and that’s what this campaign has been all about,” he said.

“We are certainly on our way to doing that. We have a lot of young players and hopefully with a bit of luck things will change.”