Northern Ireland and Finland faced off in their Euro 2016 qualifier at Windsor Park on Sunday.
Michael O'Neill's men had a chance to solidify their position in qualifying following their excellent start to the campaign, taking nine points from their opening four matches.
Kyle Lafferty ensured that his side maintained their good run of form as he netted a first-half brace to guide them to a 2-1 win over Finland, despite a late goal from Berat Sadik.
Read how all of the action unfolded with Sports Mole's text commentary below.
He told reporters: "There has been a lot of talk about the importance of the match. That's due to the fact if we win, it would put us in the position of a three-horse race for qualification rather than four.
"The result and the benefit of getting a good result in terms of where it will leave the group is why it is so big."
STARTING XI: Carroll, McLaughlin, McAuley, J Evans, Baird, Davis, Brunt, Norwood, Ward, McGinn, K Lafferty
SUBS: McGovern, Mannus, D Lafferty, McNair, Hughes, McCullough, C Evans, Dallas, McCourt, Magennis, McKay
STARTING XI: Hradecky, Sorsa, Moisander, Toivio, Eremenko, Pukki, Sparv, Mattila, Uronen, Ring, Hamalaine
SUBS: Maenpaa, Moisander, Moren, Raitala, Lam, Arajuuri, Schuller, Lod, Kauko, Sadik, Riski, Pohjanpalo
"We both know each other inside out and how our teams will play," O'Neill told reporters.
"We're similar to players, I think. When you've played at a club with someone and then you've worked briefly with them as a coach, there's obviously a relationship there.
"But we didn't spend hours on the phone or anything up to that, so the relationship hasn't changed at all."
The players are here, fans are arriving & we're closing in on kick-off! #DareToDream #NIRvFIN #GAWA pic.twitter.com/0Xcr6ahSRB
— Official Irish FA (@OfficialIrishFA) March 29, 2015
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