Hamilton's men stun German supporters

IMAGINE if Darren Anderton's shot had not come back off Andreas Kopke's Wembley post in June and instead had settled in the back of Kopke's net.

England may well have gone on to win Euro 96. Imagine then that England had drawn Northern Ireland in their World Cup qualifying group and that their first game back at Wembley was against Bryan Hamilton's collection of reserve team journeymen and diminutive jinky wingers.

Consider that scenario and you get a sense of the air of triumphant expectation that greeted Germany in Nuremberg's Frankenstadion on Saturday evening. They even played Football's Coming Home. And then Northern Ireland, with only a home defeat and a draw to their name, not only hold out for that important first half hour, but then go on to score.

Admittedly Andreas Moller equalised immediately, thereby averting an upset of Mike Tyson proportions, but the Irish showed unbending resilience to register an illustrious draw. English critical reaction had Northern Ireland achieved it at Wembley would surely have been stronger than one German newspaper headline: "That's not enough, dear Berti".

More pertinent, perhaps, had England got this result in Nuremberg, think of the acclaim Gascoigne and Co would now be receiving. In this context Northern Ireland deserve huge admiration and not just for the expected massive collective grip but also for their persistence in playing their way out of continual pressure situations.

And this was pressure - six on target German strikes in the opening 20 minutes, nine German corners in the final quarter of an hour. Yet not even at that late stage did the Irish gratefully hoof the ball away when a better option was to find Neil Lennon or Michael Hughes foraging in the corridors in front and behind the German midfield, or Iain Dowie striving manfully and successfully on his own up front.

As it happens those three and Ian Nolan of Sheffield Wednesday are the only four from the starting line up playing regularly in the Premiership. For players like Steve Morrow at Arsenal and Colin Hill at Leicester first team football is a rarity while the rest are not even big names in the Nationwide League.

But as a team, as a unit they get the balance right. Strangely and infuriatingly, however, Northern Ireland only seem capable of doing this away from home. Six times now in 2 1/2 years of competitive fixtures Northern Ireland have not lost away from home and these have not been easy trips: Porto, Vienna, Dublin and now Nuremberg.

At Windsor Park, though, there have been four defeats and it hard to escape the conclusion that the absence of atmosphere affects performance. That was not a problem here in this inspiring dome of a stadium, although one eerily quiet by the half hour mark and silenced eight minutes later. Forty thousand Germans sat stunned as Thomas Strunz's attempted clearance fell at the left foot of Gerry Taggart whose instant lash whipped past Kopke. It was a finish of power and precision confirming the Bolton captain is in fine form.

As Taggart ran back to the half way line he kissed his boot, a gesture of euphoria. Unfortunately that mood lasted about 90 seconds. Moller's swift one two with Bobic ended with the ball screaming past Tommy Wright.

It had to be some shot to beat Wright who was having one of those nights. In his first international for over two years Wright managed to get fingers, fists and feet to everything and on the one occasion he failed, Klinsmann's header hit one post, then bounced across the line on to the other

"It was as if there were planks nailed to the goal," said Klinsmann which is probably the only time Wright will ever take being called a plank as a compliment. Currently on loan with Reading, Wright hopes his display will be a springboard back to Nottingham Forest and Hamilton was full of praise for a man whose two years out of the game with knee trouble was a minor set back compared to the death of his young son. Had Wright been available for those first two games Northern Ireland might have more than two measley points.

Germany have double that and although at times their football lacks cheek Klinsmann said: "It would be false and premature to talk of anxiety."