Northern Ireland and Finland faced off in their Euro 2016 qualifier at Windsor Park on Sunday.
Michael O'Neill's men had a chance to solidify their position in qualifying following their excellent start to the campaign, taking nine points from their opening four matches.
Kyle Lafferty ensured that his side maintained their good run of form as he netted a first-half brace to guide them to a 2-1 win over Finland, despite a late goal from Berat Sadik.
Read how all of the action unfolded with Sports Mole's text commentary below.
Good afternoon and welcome to the live commentary of the Euro 2016 qualifying clash between Northern Ireland and Finland.
Michael O'Neill's men will be looking to bounce back from their friendly defeat in midweek to Scotland as Christophe Berra's goal scored a late headed effort to knick the win for the Scots at Hampden Park.
Northern Ireland also lost their last qualifying game in Group F as they lost 2-0 in Romania courtesy of a brace from Paul Papp, so there will be an urgency this afternoon to get back to winning ways at Windsor Park.
The defeat to Romania was Ireland's first in their qualifying campaign which has started in perfect fashion with victories over Hungary, the Faroe Islands and Greece last year. The results have left them second in Group F, one point behind Romania at the top of the table.
Defender Aaron Hughes has admitted that it is vital that his side seize the initiative this afternoon to make the race for qualification in Group F a three-team race as a win would give them an eight-point lead over Finland with five games to play.
He told reporters: "There has been a lot of talk about the importance of the match. That's due to the fact if we win, it would put us in the position of a three-horse race for qualification rather than four.
"The result and the benefit of getting a good result in terms of where it will leave the group is why it is so big."
Finland have to win this afternoon to get their qualifying campaign back on track as they can ill afford to drop eight points behind O'Neill's men. They've lost their last two qualifiers as Zoltan Gera's late strike earned Hungary a 1-0 win over Mixu Paatelainen's side, while a brace from Bogdan Stancu secured a 2-0 win for Romania in Finland.
Finland's last win came in friendly match against Sweden in January, which was their first victory in four matches. Winning hasn't come easy for Paatelainen's men recently and they know they will face a major battle at Windsor Park.
NORTHERN IRELAND TEAM NEWS!
STARTING XI: Carroll, McLaughlin, McAuley, J Evans, Baird, Davis, Brunt, Norwood, Ward, McGinn, K Lafferty
SUBS: McGovern, Mannus, D Lafferty, McNair, Hughes, McCullough, C Evans, Dallas, McCourt, Magennis, McKay
O'Neill names an attacking lineup this afternoon as Kyle Lafferty and Jamie Ward lead the line in an expected 4-4-2 formation. Roy Carroll, Gareth McAuley, Chris Brunt and Niall McGinn all return to the fold after missing the defeat to Scotland in midweek, while Oliver Norwood and Chris Baird retain their places in the centre of midfield and left back respectively. Steven Davis also returns to captain his side at Windsor Park this afternoon.
Paddy McNair had a strong showing on his international debut for his side, but has dropped back to the bench today as McAuley takes his place in the lineup as O'Neill opts for experience over the promising Manchester United defender. Meanwhile, Aaron Hughes will have to wait to become the most-capped outfield play in the history of Northern Ireland as he also starts on the bench, but could break the record this afternoon should he take a place on the pitch.
FINLAND TEAM NEWS!
STARTING XI: Hradecky, Sorsa, Moisander, Toivio, Eremenko, Pukki, Sparv, Mattila, Uronen, Ring, Hamalaine
SUBS: Maenpaa, Moisander, Moren, Raitala, Lam, Arajuuri, Schuller, Lod, Kauko, Sadik, Riski, Pohjanpalo
Paatelainen decicdes to operate slighty defensively this afternoon as he picks a five-man midfield and starts with just one striker as Celtic's Teemu Pukki leads the line. Pukki, who is currently on loan at Brondby this season, has notched eight goals in 38 matches in his international career, but has failed to notch a goal in their qualifying campaign. Riku Riski their top scorer in the qualifiers with two strikes is forced to settle for a place on the bench.
Other notable names in the Finland team include captain Niklas Moisander who is a regular for Ajax in Eredivisie. He starts in the heart of his side's defence, while Roman Eremenko of CSKA Moscow and Alexander Ring of Kaiserslautern will be looking to make an impact from midfield. There's not a great deal of experience in the Finland as only Eremenko collected over 50 caps in the squad.
One storyline that may have gone under the radar for the match is the relationship between the two managers. Paatelaineinen and O'Neill have a history together as the Finland boss gave the 45-year-old his break in coaching when the pair were at Cowdenbeath. O'Neill was Paatelaneinen's assistant for a year before moving to Brechin City in 2006.
"We both know each other inside out and how our teams will play," O'Neill told reporters.
"We're similar to players, I think. When you've played at a club with someone and then you've worked briefly with them as a coach, there's obviously a relationship there.
"But we didn't spend hours on the phone or anything up to that, so the relationship hasn't changed at all."
We're just 15 minutes away from kickoff at Windsor Park.
An early goal could be crucial for Ireland to settle their nerves in an important fixture for them, and they will be hopeful of continuing their good record of scoring inside the first 10 minutes as they have done so twice in their opening four fixtures during the campaign.
O'Neill will be looking at Kyle Lafferty to continue his good goalscoring record in their qualifying campaign going at Windsor Park. The 27-year-old has netted three goals in four matches, scoring in every game bar the defeat to Romania.
The players are making their way out onto the pitch and we should be underway shortly after the anthems.
REFEREE WATCH: Today's referee is Szymon Marciniak from Poland. Hopefully he will have a quiet afternoon ahead of him.
KICKOFF! We're underway at Windsor Park.
Finland start the game with a decent spell of possession as they knock the ball around effectively at the back before Toivio launches a long ball down the right looking for the run of Sorsa, but his pass his overhit and the ball goes out for a goal kick.
Both sets of players are under pressure immediately as Moisander is forced to boot the ball away under durress from Lafferty, while at the other end Pukki puts Brunt - who is operating at left-back - under the cosh forcing him into a hacked clearance.
Promising build up from Finland down the right as Sorsa and Eremenko exchanges passes and the ball from the midfielder finds Pukki in the box. The striker decides to lay the ball into the path of Mattila 25 yards from goal, and he powers a strike at goal, only to see his effort fly into the stand.
SHOT! A long ball over the top of the N. Ireland defence sees Pukki break behind McAuley. The striker advances into the box from the inside right channel and decides to shoot at goal from a tight angle, but Carroll makes the save as he pushes the ball behind for a corner.
The delivery from Eremenko causes some problems in the box as Toivio heads the ball towards goal. McGinn boots the ball away from danger on the line before a good tackle from Norwood eases the panic as Ireland manage to get the ball away from their box.
DISALLOWED GOAL! Baird thinks he has headed N. Ireland into the lead from Brunt's corner from the right, but the linesman puts his flag up to rule out the strike. The linesman appears to have ruled the goal out for offside as Brunt touched the ball to Norwood before whipping it to the near post, which seems to have been the reason for the decision. Looks to be an iffy call from the official.
Finland threaten as they break with speed down the right and Eremenko cuts the ball back into the box for the run of Pukki, but McAuley is there to make a crucial intervention to stop a certain goal.
Some decent football being played by both teams at the moment and there is quite a good tempo to the game, which is creating openings in the final third of the pitch.
Finland are enjoying a lot of possession in the early stages of this game, but are not creating any meaningful with it at the moment as O'Neill's men are doing well in keeping them away from their box. Sorsa has had some success down the right, but that's as good as its got for the visitors.
Neat interchange play between McLaughlin and Davis sees the skipper raid into a dangerous area down the right flank. The midfiedler has McGinn on the edge of the box, but opts to go alone, and win a corner for the home side.
Brunt's delivery flies straight into the hands of Hradecky and from the corner Finland break and a long ball from Ring incredibly finds the run of Pukki on the edge of the box. Davis has to win the ball with his challenge otherwise he's in big trouble, but the defender makes an inch-perfect tackle to save his side to concede a corner.
Finland win two corners in a row and from the second delivery there is chaos in the box as Ireland cannot clear the danger before the ball lands at the feet of Uronen on the edge of the box. However, the defender scuffs his strike and allows the home side to clear.
Another long ball causes problems for the Irish as Pukki tries to turn McAuley deep inside the box, but the defender does well to ease the danger as he steals the ball before his teammates are able to help out by clearing the ball.
CHANCE! O'Neill's men should be ahead as Moisander makes a huge error as his attempted clearance lands straight at the feet of Ward, who is able to race through on goal. The striker fires a low effort at the targer, but Hradecky makes a good stop to palm the ball out for a corner. Huge moment in the match.
PENALTY SHOUT! A real end-to-end contest as Hradecky claims the corner and the visitors raid upfield on the counter. Sorsa gets into the box and tries to turn Brunt, but goes down in a heap in the penalty area and immediately looks for the referee, but Marciniak waves away his appeals.
Finland work the ball well in the final third as they are able to expose space in between the Ireland defence and midfield. However, Sparv gets a bit ambitious as he tries an effort from distance, which lacks power and is easily saved by Carroll.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 1-0 Finland (Lafferty)
Northern Ireland take the lead in spectacular fashion as Finland fail to clear their lines from a cross into the box and McGinn keeps the attack alive by heading the ball back into the penalty area, where he finds Lafferty. The striker takes the shot on first time on the volley and finds the bottom corner with a superb strike to net his fourth goal of the campaign.
O'Neill's men are really flooding forward now as players are flying forward to put the visitors under pressure. A second goal before half time could put the game beyond the reach of Mixu Paatelainen's side.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 2-0 Finland (Lafferty)
Lafferty get his and his side's second of the match to send Windsor Park into raptures as the striker rises above Moisander in the area to guide McLaughlin's pinpoint cross from the right into the bottom corner. An excellent finish as he gets his fifth goal in five games in qualifying.
Northern Ireland's tails are up and they are exerting some serious pressure on the Finland backline, who cannot afford to concede again before the break if they harbour any ambition of earning a positive result from this match.
The home side seem to be content with retaining possession to see out their two-goal lead to the break, although Brunt doesn't seem to get the message as he hits a hopeful long ball to Lafferty which sails out of play. The West Brom man immediately apologises to his teammates for that mistake.
SUBSTITUTION: Pohjanpalo replaces Hamalaine for the visitors as the midfielder appears to have picked up an injury.
There will be one minute of added time.
HALF-TIME: Northern Ireland 2-0 Finland
Michael O'Neill could not have wished for a better scoreline after 45 minutes of this match as a brace from Kyle Lafferty has handed his team control of the qualifier at the break. It could have been even better for the hosts had Chris Baird not had a goal ruled out for offside, which appeared to be the wrong decision. However, Lafferty found the net twice within the space of five minutes with two well-taken goals to put his side in command at Windsor Park.
Finland have had brief moments in the match as Teemu Pukki had an effort well saved by Roy Carroll, while the forward almost latched onto a brilliant through ball from Alexander Ring, but was denied by an inch-perfect tackle from Steven Davis as the home side managed to keep them at bay before taking the lead in the match. Mixu Paatelainen has a big job on his hands at the break to motivate his team as they looked quite downbeat as the headed off the pitch. Could their hopes of qualifying be slipping away here?
Elsewhere in Group F, Romania are leading the Faroe Islands 1-0 at the break and if the scoreline stays the same in the match, Romania will maintain their lead at the top of the table. Meanwhile, Lee Casciaro scored Gibraltar's first ever competitive goal, but they trail Scotland 4-1 at the break at Hampden Park.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Corry Evans replaces Steven Davis at the break for the hosts, while Paulus Arajuuri comes on for Joona Toivio for the visitors.
RESTART: We're back underway at Windsor Park.
CHANCE! A long ball forward from the back from Jonny Evans releases Lafferty who controls the ball and advances into the box. Arajuuri comes across to challenge the striker and does enough to block his effort over the bar for a corner.
CHANCE! Brunt's delivery travels through the box before it comes to Ward on the edge of the area. The forward gets his strike all wrong but it lands fortuitously at the back post for McGinn, but his sliding effort goes narrowly past the frame of the goal. A real chance to put the game beyond the visitors is spurned by the midfielder.
CHANCE! The visitors remind N. Ireland that this game is far from over as Pukki weaves his way to the edge of the box down the right and fires a low ball across the face of goal for Pohjanpalo, who can only put his strike from close range past the post.
CHANCE! Excellent play from the home side as they complete over 20 passes in succession before Ward lines up a left-footed strike from the edge of the area. Hradecky cannot hold the effort on the first time of asking as Corry Evans races forward, but the keeper reacts quickly enough to smother the ball at the second attempt at the feet of the midfielder.
Uronen manages to find space on two occasions to whip crosses into the box. His first is easily gathered by Carroll at his near post, but his second connects with Ring inside the area, but the midfielder's touch lets him down at the crucial moment when he was about to pull the trigger. Further warning signs for O'Neill's men.
Finland have come back into this game over the past few minute and are exerting some pressure on the N. Ireland goal. They've yet to find the bit of quality they need to get a breakthrough, but the more they see off the ball in the final third the greater chance they have of producing a goal to force their way back into the contest.
YELLOW CARD! Baird goes into the book for a poor challenge on Ring.
From the resulting free kick, Eremenko lifts the ball into the box and Jonny Evans can only get glancing header on the ball as he attempts to clear the danger. His clearance lands at the feet of Ring, who decides to take a shot on the volley, but he gets his effort all wrong as it sails well over the bar.
SUBSTITUTION: McGinn's time on the pitch is over as Stuart Dallas replaces him in the Irish midfield.
YELLOW CARD! Brunt is the second player to enter the book as he brings down Pohjanpalo from behind.
A long ball over the top of the Finland defence nearly falls into the path of Corry Evans as he battles with Moisander as he tries to shepherd the ball back to Hradecky. The midfiedler nearly gets enough contact on the ball to divert it past the keeper, but Hradecky is alert to the danger to make the stop.
YELLOW CARD! Pukki is cautioned for a high boot on McAuley inside the Ireland box.
Jamie Ward has space to break into the down the right as he raids all the way to the edge of the box before he decides to shoot at goal. Moisander blocks his effort which loops up inside the box and Hradecky races off his line to beat the forward to the ball to stop the attack.
Fatigue appears to be creeping in with the home side as they've lacked the energy they had in the first half. Lafferty has been unable to keep the pressure on the Finland defence in the second half, while the midfield and defence have been dropping deeper as the visitors have enjoyed better possession of the ball.
Lafferty takes a knock as he goes for the ball in the final third. He's down in a heap but after some treatment he gets to his feet and jogs back onto the pitch.
YELLOW CARD! Arajuuri is booked as he clatters into Dallas down the left as the winger looked to be past the defender.
SUBSTITUTION: Lafferty's time on the pitch is over and he receives a huge ovation from the crowd inside Windsor Park as he makes way for Magennis.
The tempo of the game has dropped significantly as there appears to be a lot of tired legs out on the pitch. Finland don't appear to have any answers on how to get back into this match as they look to be heading for their third defeat on the spin in their qualifying campaign.
Sorsa sums up a miserable afternoon for Paatelainen as his cross goes straight out for a goal kick when the full-back was well placed to whip in a delivery from the right wing. His manager has his head in his hands after that one.
N. Ireland remain disciplined at the back as Finland break forward once again. Eremenko tries to find a teammate, but cannot escape the pressure of Corry Evans before he evenutally decides to shoot from distance, but his effort sails into the stand behind the goal.
There will be three minutes of added time.
GOAL! Northern Ireland 2-1 Finland (Sadik)
A lifeline for Finland as they get a goal back in the dying minutes as Carroll can only parry Eremenko's powerful drive from the edge of the box, and Sadik pounces on the rebound to hammer the ball into the back of the net. Game on for the final two minutes!
Finland work the ball in the final third before it comes to Mattila on the edge of the box. The midfielder drives the ball towards the net, but his strike is deflected behind for a corner. Pressure on for the home side.
The corner goes right through the box and Corry Evans hammers the ball clear before the referee blows his whistle to end the game.
FULL-TIME: Northern Ireland 2-1 Finland
Nothern Ireland see out the victory and earn their fourth victory of their qualifying campaign as they remain one point behind Romania at the top of Group F. Michael O'Neill's men have now made the race for Euro 2016 a three-team battle thanks to Kyle Lafferty's brace at Windsor Park as they have put themsevles in an extremely strong position to qualify for a place in the tournament in France next year.
Lafferty's quality was the difference between the two sides as his two efforts in the first half were enough to secure the victory despite a late goal from Berat Sadik. O'Neill's side stepped off the gas in the second half, but Finland lacked the quality to threaten their net until it was too late as their impressive run in their campaign continues.
Thanks for joining our commentary this afternoon. Be sure to stick with Sports Mole for the rest of our coverage of tonight's remaining qualifiers from across Europe. But from me, it's goodbye.
