Worthington thrilled with vital win

Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington saluted his "fantastic" side as they moved into pole position in Group Three after defeating Poland in their World Cup qualifier.

The home side stretched their unbeaten home record in competitive games to eight matches with the 3-2 win at Windsor Park.

Worthington said: "Poland are a good team but when we have big matches Windsor Park becomes a fortress. That's what you want because sadly our away form tends to let us down."

He added: "That is something we will continue to look at.

"It was a proper Northern Ireland performance and the lads were fantastic.

"I have confidence in the players and we quietly fancied ourselves. We carried on the good work from training.

"We did our homework and it worked for us. I was delighted with the level of performance. We played good football and were very competitive. We showed great energy.

"We started well, pushed them back and went ahead. When they got their goal it rocked us for 10 minutes.

"But we stayed solid, kept our shape and got through to half-time. Then to produce that level of performance for the last 45 minutes was phenomenal."