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Northern Ireland 4-1 Georgia

A Kyle Lafferty double helped Northern Ireland to a comfortable friendly win at Windsor Park on Wednesday night.

The Burnley striker slotted in from a Steven Davis pass before David Healy's deflected shot made

it 2-0.

Lafferty headed in his second on 36 minutes but Georgia pulled one back through Healy's own-goal after Maik Taylor pushed a penalty onto a post.

Linfield forward Peter Thompson scored his first NI goal with a close-range finish three minutes from time.

There was a memorable moment just before kick-off when Uefa president Michel Platini presented Healy with a special award for scoring a record 13 goals during the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

It took 15 minutes before Northern Ireland began to spark and not surprisingly Healy was at the centre of the action.

The Fulham striker went close four times before playing a part in the 25th minute opener.

Healy pounced on a mistake and pushed the ball forward for Davis, whose perfect pass left Lafferty to provide the side-foot finish from 12 yards.

Healy doubled the lead seven minutes later when he drove forward before unleashing which defected off AC Milan defender Kakha Kaladze and past keeper Georgi Makaridze.

Nigel Worthington's team struck again on 36 minutes with Lafferty getting in front of his marker to powerfully head in from Healy's pinpoint cross.

Worthington made two half-time changes with Crewe's Michael O'Connor coming on for his debut in place of Damien Johnson and Lafferty making way for Warren Feeney.

But O'Connor made a nightmare start to his senior international career when he handled a 55th cross to concede a penalty.

Taylor pushed Levan Tskitishvili's spot-kick onto a post but Healy slid the ball into his own net as he came in to clear the rebound.

Linfield midfielder Michael Gault became the second Northern Ireland debutant as he and clubmate Thompson came on for Healy and Davis on 70 minutes.

Georgia fashioned two good chances with Taylor saving from Alexandre Iashvili and Levan Kenia strikes.

Alan Mannus replaced Taylor with 10 minutes left to make it a trio of players from Irish League side Linfield on the pitch.

Thompson got the final touch from an Aaron Hughes header to take the ball over the line and complete the scoring on 87 minutes.

The Linfield man became the first Irish League player since 1984 to score for Northern Ireland - the last was Lee Doherty, who also played for the Belfast club.

Northern Ireland: Taylor, Baird, Hughes, Craigan, Evans, Gillespie, Johnson, Davis, Elliott, Healy, Lafferty.

Georgia: Makaridze, Salukvadze, Kaladze, Kenia, Shashiashvili, Kobiashvili, Tskitishvili, Kankava, Kvakhadze, Kvirkvelia, Iashvili.

NORTHERN IRELAND'S CLIMB UP FIFA RANKINGS CONTINUES

18/07/2007

NORTHERN Ireland is now ranked 28th in the world – this is our highest ever placing.

In the latest FIFA world rankings published today (Wednesday) we have moved up one place, while the Republic of Ireland have fallen one place to 39th.

England have fallen down four places to 12th, Scotland have moved up one place to 22nd and Wales move up one to 74th.

Other rankings of interest include the countries in our Euro 2008 qualifying group: Spain are down two places to 9th, Sweden 20th (down three places), Denmark 26th (up one place), Iceland 109th (no move and joint with Azerbaijan), Latvia 111th (down four places) while our next opponents, Liechtenstein, who we play in August remain at 133rd.

The top spot has been taken over by Brazil, while Argentina have moved up to second with Italy falling from first to third.

Sanchez wants Celtic Tournament

Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez has called for a new Celtic nations competition to replace friendly internationals during the season.

Sanchez believes NI, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland would play in the competition but claims England would not want to take part.

"There's a lot in it for us, for Wales and Scotland, but not a lot in it for England," he said.

"It would be much more beneficial than playing non-interesting friendlies."

Sanchez's suggestion is a new twist on calls for the resurrection of the Home Nations Championship, which ended in 1984 with Northern Ireland the holders.

The big difference would see England being replaced by the Republic of Ireland.

"You saw the fallout when England lost to us last September in the World Cup qualifiers," added Sanchez.

"Every England manager would have that fear for all three games and I can see why England are not as interested as the other three countries.

"You have to remember that England have to make big commercial decisions - every game is worth a lot of money and perhaps playing Northern Ireland would not be financially great.

"But there is talk of the Republic of Ireland being interested."

"The tournament would not be at the end of the season but instead it would take part during the season - use up our friendly dates for that tournament."

Scotland manager Walter Smith would also like to see some sort of revival of the old Home Nations tournament.

"Sometimes the friendly matches that we have at international level are not worthwhile having, unless you have one of the bigger countries," said Smith.

"Home internationals were a good thing and I would like to see them brought back."

Award for Northern Ireland fans

The Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs has been given a major award for its work in tackling sectarianism and supporting charities.

The Brussels International Supporters' Award, backed by Uefa, was received by Jim Rainey on behalf of the NI fans.

"Jim represents all that is good about the Amalgamation," said Michael Boyd, the IFA's head of community relations.

"Their work has improved the atmosphere at Northern Ireland matches and raised £82,000 for charities."

Rainey said it was great that Northern Ireland supporters had been recognised for their work.

"We have used the spirit of football to extend the hand of friendship around the globe, while never missing an opportunity to help those less fortunate than ourselves," he said.