Darren Patterson scored his first goal for Northern Ireland as they continued their renaissance under Lawrie McMenemy. The Luton centrehalf marked his return from the international wilderness by heading home after 10 minutes against Switzerland at Windsor Park last night.
Patterson (28), won his first cap in two years and 11th in total because of a hamstring injury to Colin Hill.
But he did not look out of place as Northern Ireland recorded another fine victory over a Swiss side, who at 70th are 22 places higher than them in the world rankings. This was also the same Switzerland team which drew 1-1 with England in Berne last month.
The win for Northern Ireland comes hard on the heels of a 1-0 victory over Slovakia last month.
The Swiss carved out the first chance on seven minutes when Sebastien Fournier released captain Stephane Chapuisat down the left. Alan Fettis rushed out to the edge of his area and partially cleared the danger only for the Borussia Dortmund striker to collect the ball and curl in a right-foot effort, which the Blackburn goalkeeper plucked from under the bar.
Three minutes later, the home side took the lead with a gem of a goal which Patterson will long remember.
Michael Hughes, who was coached by Swiss manager Gilbert Gress at Strasbourg, fed Keith Gillespie on the right and he sent in a perfect back-post cross for Patterson to head home.
Neil Lennon nearly added a second after Joel Corminboeuf palmed Gillespie's cross to his feet and he shot just wide.
Northern Ireland's tails were up, and on 25 minutes Corminboeuf produced a fine save to keep out a terrific effort from Michael Hughes after the Wimbledon winger had played a one-two with James Quinn.
In the second half Ramon Vega, who scored against England, spurned two great chances inside the space of 60 seconds. First, the Tottenham defender shot straight at Fettis from two yards out on the end of Wicky's cross and then he blazed into the side-netting from close range.
Zuberuhler, brought on to replace Corminboeuf at half-time, produced a great save to block Gillespie's header from Steve Lomas's left-wing cross.
Gress made a surprising substitution on the hour when he took off Chapuisat.
Northern Ireland: Fettis, Jenkins, A Hughes, Patterson, Morrow, Lomas, Lennon, Gillespie, M Hughes, Dowie, Quinn (O'Boyle 67). Subs Not Used: Taylor, Murdock, Whitley, Mulryne, McCarthy, Magilton. Goals: Patterson 10.
Switzerland: Corminboeuf (Zuberuhler 46), Vogel (Jeanneret 67), Fournier, Henchoz, Vega, Yakin, Sesa, Wicky, Grassi, Lonfat (Kunz 71), Chapuisat (Muller 60). Subs Not Used: Wolf, Buhlmann. Referee: H Dallas (Scotland).
