Hughes targets a slice of history

NORTHERN IRELAND v ENGLAND Kick-off: 1945 BST, Wednesday 7th September Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Live coverage on BBC One, BBC Radio Five Live and this website

Aaron Hughes believes Northern Ireland must go into Wednesday's game against England believing they can cause one of the all-time upsets.

The province have won just two of their 43 meetings with England since the war but the NI skipper insisted they must take a positive approach.

"I am not saying we are going to beat England but we are aiming to. We must put everything into it," said Hughes.

"It would be something special to create a bit of history of our own."

Despite the boost of beating Azerbaijan on Saturday, the province go into Wednesday's Windsor Park clash as rank underdogs, rated as 22-1 outsiders.

But the NI players had a spring in their step at training on Monday after ending a run of almost four years without a competitive victory.

"It meant a great deal to beat Azerbaijan. We had received a lot of negative press," added Hughes.

"We went out to prove a few people wrong on Saturday and the win was a lift for us and the country."