We don’t fear England, says Taylor

MAIK TAYLOR should have been celebrating his 34th birthday yesterday, but the Northern Ireland goalkeeper was preparing for the World Cup qualifier against England on Wednesday.

Taylor cannot wait for the glamour game to start for both professional and personal reasons. The province go into the match with renewed confidence after ending a four-year run without a competitive home win by beating Azerbaijan 2-0.

And it is a big night as well for Taylor’s two sons Joseph, seven, and Oliver, six, who will be mascots at Windsor Park.

Taylor said: “We have nothing to fear against England. We can enjoy it and have a right good go at them. You could see the confidence grow in our team after we made the breakthrough.

“We were a bit on edge in the first 10-15 minutes as we were expected to get a victory. But it is never that easy as our previous results show. But we gave a thoroughly professional performance and it was a job well done. The lads responded well and we could have won by a far bigger margin.”

Stuart Elliott opened the scoring in the 60th minute with a superb 20-yard free-kick and then, with David Healy struggling with a slight thigh strain, Warren Feeney stepped off the bench to add a second. The Luton striker grabbed the ball off Elliott to score from the penalty spot.

The result came after a week which saw Cardiff’s Jeff Whitley and Phil Mulryne banished from the squad for breaking a curfew, but it could have worked in the team’s favour, according to manager Lawrie Sanchez. He said: “I’ve always wanted players who are committed beyond lip service. Coming away from your family for 10 days and into a strange environment is not an easy ride. This group though are committed.

“If one or two are lost on the way but it makes us more professional I will accept that. When you send two of your players away from the hotel it is not something you want to do. Sometimes, though, the chaos works for a team in that it concentrates your mind on what the job is.”

Sanchez is now savouring pitting his tactical wits against Sven-Goran Eriksson.

“We are not expected to win as we are 100-odd places below them in the FIFA rankings,” he added.