Corry Evans' First International Goal Gives Northern Ireland 1-0 Win In Slovenia

Corry Evans's 70th minute goal gave Northern Ireland a 1-0 victory in Maribor, defeating a Slovenia team that finished above them in World Cup qualifying.

Slovenia and Northern Ireland were drawn into the same group for World Cup 2010 qualifying.  Though the teams would split their two matches, the home team willing each time, Slovenia finished second in group and went on to qualify for the World Cup.  Northern Ireland would finish five points back.

Evans' goal was a huge step toward reversing that finish, giving Northern Ireland an unplanned three road points that, depending on how group-mates perform in Maribor, could put them in contention for one of the top two spots.

Evans, the younger brother of Manchester United teammate Jonny Evans, came off the bench in the 67th minute, replacing David Healy. Three minutes later Evans was on the end of a Craig Cathcart cross, finishing for his first international goal.

Goals:

70' - Corry Evans 1

Discipline:

25' - David Healy

47' - Chris Brunt

83' - Kyle Lafferty

Lineups:

Slovenia: Handanovic, Cesar, Jokic, Mrecko, Mavric, Koren, Kirm (Dedic 74'), Radosavljevic, Birse, Novakovic (Ilicic 74'), Ljubijankic (Matavz 88')

Northern Ireland: Taylor, Craigan, Hughes, Baird, McAuley, Cathcart, David, Brunt (Gorman 89'), McCann (Lafferty 67'), Feeney, Healy (67')

Goals

1

Leonardo Bonucci, Italy
Antonio Cassano, Italy
Joan Simun Edmundsson, Faroe Islands
Corry Evans, Northern Ireland
Danko Lazokic, Serbia
Raio Piiroja, Estonia
Kaimar Saag, Estonia
Dejan Stankovic, Serbia
Nikola Zigic, Serbia
Sergei Zenjov, Estonia