STEVEN Davis’ half-hour cameo could hardly have gone better as the Northern Ireland captain came on to score his 13th international goal and help his side snatch a 3-1 friendly win over Luxembourg.
The 37-year-old was playing his first game since Rangers’ 3-0 Scottish FA Cup win over Annan in mid-February following injury woes, but popped up with a crucial goal as he and fellow substitute Gavin Whyte sealed victory.
“It’s an important week for me having missed a bit of time since the new year with a couple of injuries,” said Davis, who wants to put himself in contention for the Old Firm derby on April 2.
“I was delighted to get out there and to get the goal was the icing on the cake.”
The interventions of Davis and Whyte were needed after Marvin Martin had cancelled out Josh Magennis’ early strike, with the hosts enjoying more possession and having more shots at goal at the Stade de Luxembourg.
But Northern Ireland showed the sort of clinical finishing which they have sorely missed at times to take a confidence-building win into Tuesday’s home match against Hungary.
For Davis the goal moved him joint-third in Northern Ireland’s all-time scoring list – only David Healy and Kyle Lafferty have more.
“We’re delighted to come away from home and score three goals, it’s always a positive,” Davis added. “There are parts of our game we can improve on but overall we’re delighted.
“Now we can look forward to a home game in front of a full crowd and against good opposition as well.
“(Hungary) are a team that’s improving, they’ve got some good young players. It will be a good test but one we’re really looking forward to.”
Davis put Northern Ireland back in front in the 83rd minute, and two minutes later Whyte essentially sealed the win as he broke away to tuck the ball into the corner of the net – his fourth senior international goal.
“It feels good getting on the pitch, never mind scoring,” the forward, on loan at Oxford, said. “I thought maybe we weren’t as good as we can be but in the second half we dug deep and got the rewards for it.
“I feel sharp, I feel composed at the minute. I’m playing higher up for Oxford and I think I’m growing in confidence but getting on the pitch, I don’t really mind where I play…
“I can’t wait for Tuesday night now. It’s going to be harder. We’ll need to step up, but if we play like I know we can I know we’ll be alright.”
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