BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's Kyle Lafferty maintained his superb and surprising scoring streak with two expertly-taken goals in a 2-1 win over Finland on Sunday that kept his side on course to reach the Euro 2016 finals.
Northern Ireland have never played in the European Championship finals or reached a major tournament for almost 30 years, but sit second in qualifying Group F with 12 points, one behind Romania who beat Faroe Islands 1-0.
"Many aspects of our play were really pleasing. We showed real conviction to win the game and that shone through in the performance," Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill told the BBC.
"Qualifying is a realistic possibility but our next challenge is Romania."
Lafferty netted twice in the first half in Belfast to take his tally for the qualifying campaign to five goals from five games, a ratio in stark contrast to his woeful club form.
Finland grabbed a stoppage-time consolation when Berat Sadik gobbled up a rebound from close range, but the hosts held out and are well-placed with the top two guaranteed spots at next year's finals.
Lafferty's meagre tally of one goal in 18 league games for Norwich City caused the English second-tier side to ship him out on loan to Turkish club Rizespor where he has scored one goal in seven games since making his debut in February.
He looked like a man in form, however, in the driving rain at Windsor Park where he did a passable impression of the complete target man.
His first goal was a beautifully-controlled volley after Niall McGinn headed the ball back into the area and Lafferty swivelled to aim a sweeping strike into the far corner after 33 minutes.
His second, five minutes later, was a more typical effort for a player with his physical attributes as he held his ground in the penalty area to direct Conor McLaughlin's right-wing cross into the corner of the net with a glancing header.
"Kyle scored two fantastic goals from two quality crosses into the area," O'Neill said.
