Time to cure travel sickness

By Michael McNamee
BBC Radio Ulster

Northern Ireland fans have long been used to travelling more in hope than expectation and this week's jaunt to Maribor is no exception.

David Healy failed to find the net in the opening two qualifiers

Online maps and atlases were no doubt needed to find Slovenia's second biggest city (European Capital of Culture for 2012!) but one fact is well-known among the Green and White Army - Northern Ireland don't win away from home very often.

Weed out the friendly games and the victories over the no-hopers (Liechtenstein and Malta spring to mind) and you find that it's been ages since Northern Ireland beat a middle or top-rank team away from home.

You have to go back to the "oh-so-close" Euro '96 campaign when trips to Riga and Vienna yielded narrow wins for Bryan Hamilton's side, which just missed out on the finals in England.

It was so long ago that current manager Nigel Worthington was still playing and today’s grizzled veteran Keith Gillespie was a bright-eyed new boy.

Since then managers have come and gone, we've witnessed a goal drought and a goal-scoring record-breaker, but still the away wins column has been about as fruitful as a vineyard in Vladivostok.

The signs for this Saturday's match aren't promising either.

That international goal machine David Healy, of whom so much is now expected, is snatching at chances he usually smashes home.

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His warming of the Sunderland bench hasn't helped – since Northern Ireland's goalless draw with the Czech Republic last month, Healy's only first-team action has been 45 minutes against Northampton in the Carling Cup.

The return of his towering international strike partner Kyle Lafferty has been greeted with sighs of relief all round. The same goes for midfield playmaker Steve Davis.

Slovenia are nearly 40 places below Northern Ireland in the Fifa rankings but have started the group strongly with an opening draw in Poland and a 2-1 win over Slovakia.

The double goalscorer Milivoje Novakovic of Cologne will again lead the line with West Brom midfielder Robert Koren the only name well-known to Premier League supporters.

However, it's the Northern Ireland absentees which give most cause for concern for the travelling fans.

Four players have pulled out of Worthington's original squad, with virus victim Jonny Evans a possible fifth.

Evans was simply outstanding against the Czechs and his withdrawal would leave Northern Ireland with no defensive options at all.

We should expect a regular 4-4-2 formation from Worthington but he might yet fashion a surprise or two Michael McNamee

Add in the possibility of knocks being picked up in Maribor or Keith Gillespie picking up his habitual yellow card and Northern Ireland could be down to the barest bones against San Marino at Windsor Park on Wednesday night.

And yet… and yet… So often in the past Northern Ireland have sprung results when so little is expected of them.

With midfield places up for grabs, Saturday could be a major opportunity for the likes of Crewe Alexandra's Michael O'Connor and Grant McCann of Scunthorpe United.

We should expect a regular 4-4-2 formation from Worthington but he might yet fashion a surprise or two even from his depleted resources.

And if the team can avoid the defensive lapses on display in Slovakia and play with the sort of heart shown against the Czech Republic then is a golden three points too much to hope for?

Healy's got to come good again, hasn't he ?