WHEN England lose, fans usually have a moan and a beer and then get back to supporting their true love, their club side. Tabloid headline writers however, rub their hands in glee. “Sack the Swede” and “Taxi for Eriksson” were two of the more generous headlines aimed at everyone’s favourite Swedish ex-England boss after Northern Ireland stunned the Three Lions with a 1-0 win in Belfast on this day in 2005.

Coming into the game Northern Ireland were ranked lower than Rwanda, Turkmenistan and Lebanon, as they languished in FIFA’s ratings at 116th place. How was a team featuring players from Peterborough, Motherwell and Southampton reserves going to compete with the like of Beckham, Rooney and Owen?

Very well was the answer. A horribly disjointed performance from the English, coupled with a gritty never-say-die effort from the home side saw David Healy fire home in the 73rd minute and give Northern Ireland their first win over the English since 1972. Tempers flared in the England side as Rooney and Beckham almost came to blows in the dressing room at half-time as the scouser was told by his captain to stop running around the pitch like a crazed loon, kicking out at everything in green.



This would prove to Sven’s only ever loss in a qualifying tournament, and he knew how bad it was. “This is my worst experience as England manager because it’s a qualification game. We shouldn’t lose here. We should not even draw,” said the Swede. English fans agreed, booing off their team as the Irish taunted them with chants of “are you Scotland in disguise?”

The Irish fans partied long into the night, celebrating a famous win that would prove to be the start of a renaissance in Northern Irish football, as a year later they would defeat the Spanish, thanks to a hat-trick from David Healy. See footage of the boy from Killyleagh’s goal and 14,000 Irishmen going crazy below and join us tomorrow to go way, way back to a time when no-one knew what was really going on.

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