North are held as Healy's poor form continues

SOCCER INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES:Northern Ireland 1 Israel 1

DAVID HEALY won his 75th cap for Northern Ireland in last night’s friendly against Israel at Windsor Park but for the sixth match running failed to get on the scoresheet.

The Sunderland striker was taken off by manager Nigel Worthington in the 59th minute and replaced by Martin Paterson.

Healy has been stuck on 35 goals for months now and his poor form in front of goal will be causing concern in the camp.

Worthington was looking for a morale-boosting win ahead of the vital World Cup qualifier against Poland next month.

Instead they had to settle for a share of the spoils with Elyaniv Barda cancelling out Grant McCann’s opening goal.

Northern Ireland suffered a blow before the game when Manchester United defender Jonny Evans returned home for treatment on an ankle injury.

They had better fortune on the pitch when McCann scored his fourth international goal in the 17th minute.

The Scunthorpe midfielder dusted himself down after being upended and fired a 20-yard free-kick beyond Dudu Aouate.

Israel equalised in the 25th minute following a sweeping move.

Roberto Collauti linked up with Aviram Baruchyan and he released Elyaniv Barda. He showed good skill to clip his effort over Taylor to bring the sides level.

NORTHERN IRELAND:Taylor (Tuffey 46), Baird, Craigan, Hughes (McGinn 46), McCartney, Johnson (McAuley 46), Clingan (McGivern 70), McCann, Brunt, Healy (Paterson 59), Lafferty. Subs not used: Coates, Little.

ISRAEL:Aouate (Davidovitch 46), Meshumar, Keinan (Ben-Haim 46), Strol (Mori 71), Dayan, Cohen, Baruchian, Benayoun, Yadin (Ziv 65), Barda, Colautti. Subs not used: Ben Shushan, Yitzhaki, Golan, Toama.

Referee:J Valgeirsson (Iceland)