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| Hat trick for Steven Fletcher |
Lafferty, back with the Northern Ireland squad this weekend, was an unused sub at Windsor Park as they beat Finland 2-1 despite the scare of a late goal from the Finns. And it was ex-Claret Kyle Lafferty whose name will be in the headlines, the Norwich forward currently on loan in Turkey, scoring both Northern Ireland goals to take his total to 13 in 42 internationals, and with five of those coming in their five qualifying games for Euro 2016. These goals came exactly seven years to the day since he scored his last Burnley goal.
Lafferty wasn't the only ex-Burnley player in the Northern Ireland side. Chris Baird, now with West Brom was in the team, winning his 71st cap.
Anything Lafferty can do, Steven Fletcher can beat. Only this week, on the message board, his disappointing goal tally for Scotland was discussed. In 19 games for his country he'd scored just once, that coming against Iceland in April 2009 when he was still playing his football for Hibs.
One in 19, make that four in 20. This evening he bagged a hat trick for Scotland in a 6-1 win against Gibraltar to keep them right on course for qualification.
Ward's Republic of Ireland were hoping to get alongside the top three with ten points but they were eventually relieved to get a draw against Poland in the Aviva Stadium. They trailed 1-0 at half time but put the Poles under some pressure after the break and eventually got the equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time from substitute Shane Long.
Dane Richards was an unused substitute for Jamaica in their 2-1 friendly win against Venezuela in Montego Bay with Giles Barnes of Houston Dynamo and Vancouver Whitecaps' Darren Mattocks scoring the goals.
There has been one other ex-Claret involved in the Euros today and a player who is moving towards a century of caps. Hungary drew 0-0 this evening against Greece in Budapest, a game that saw Gabor Kiraly win his 93rd full cap.
The INTERNATIONALS feature, which can be found under the Players drop down, has been updated to include the caps won by Lafferty, Baird, Fletcher and Kiraly.