Out of jail

Malta is not a lucky country for Lawrie Sanchez, Northern Ireland's national football coach. When still a player, he played for his country in Malta, was substituted and never selected again for the national team. Sixteen years later, he returns as national coach to Malta and only just avoided an embarassing defeat thanks to a last minute missed penalty and an excellent display by Malta. Stuart McKinley in Malta writes for the Belfast Telegraph before the game:

When Northern Ireland last played in Malta in October 2001, Lawrie Sanchez was still in charge of Wycombe Wanderers in the Second Division. He was still almost two-and-a-half years away from becoming the international manager, but he is quite familiar with the Mediterranean island. The last of his three appearances in a green shirt came here in a 2-0 win in April 1989 and even 16 years on, Sanchez looks back on his international career as being much too short.

"The last time I was in Malta I played 70 minutes, was substituted and then was never seen again," he said. "I had been in the team for the previous game against Spain and I felt that I had played well that night. "I thought that I had an okay game against Malta but was then taken off and it frustrated me that I wasn't called up after that." Sanchez's international career lasted only three games, from his debut in November 1986 in Turkey to that Malta game..

And Stuart McKinley after the game.

More about the Malta-N.Ireland 1-1 draw from MaltaFootball.com