North dream on thanks to Feeney’s strike

NORTHERN IRELAND manager Nigel Worthington told his players to continue dreaming of a place at the World Cup after Warren Feeney earned them victory over Group Three rivals Slovenia.

Feeney pounced in the 73rd minute following a nice build-up between Damien Johnson and Sammy Clingan.

Worthington’s side now sit top of their group and he is happy for his squad to look towards South Africa as long as they retain their focus on the pitch.

“You have to have dreams and you have to carry on as long as you still have them,” Worthington said.

“We’ll go away now and keep working hard. The job is on and we have a nice amount of points.

“The lads have done everything I’ve asked of them but we have a big job to do in September.

“The group of players have been fantastic over the last 10 days and they fully deserve their six points.”

Match-winner Feeney is one of those already dreaming big.

“If we keep our momentum and our belief I can’t see why we can’t go further. We’ve got great belief amongst the boys,” he said.

“This is dedicated to our fans tonight because they’ve been brilliant for the last two games.”

After a poor start to their campaign they have suddenly become the team to beat.

Feeney has now taken over the mantle from David Healy and this was his second successive goal after he made the breakthrough against Poland at the weekend.

In the process Northern Ireland have won four successive qualifiers for the first time in their history.

They made the breakthrough in the 73rd minute with the on-loan Dundee United striker glancing a header beyond the goalkeeper after a good build up involving Sammy Clingan and Johnson to prompt another night of celebrations in Belfast.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Taylor, McAuley, Hughes, Evans, McCartney, Johnson, Clingan, McCann, Davis, Healy, Feeney.

SLOVENIA: Jasmin Handanovic, Mavric, Filekovic, Cesar, Jokic, Kirm, Komac, Koren, Brecko, Dedic, Novakovic.

REFEREE: Alon Yefet (Israel).