Football / International: Dowie's delivery day

WITH victory essential in their quest to stay in touch in Group Three of the World Cup qualifying tournament, Northern Ireland may look to Iain Dowie, the Southampton striker, to deliver goals against Albania in Tirana this afternoon.

Dowie was left out of the squad for the last World Cup game, a home defeat by Denmark, but he seems likely to win a recall to the starting XI in place of the injured Colin Clarke. 'It's great to be back,' Dowie said. 'I'm sure I can help us get the result we need.'

Billy Bingham's men are not spending long in Albania - they flew in yesterday and will head for home straight after the game. 'Albania is not a place you want to go to,' said Mal Donaghy, the veteran Chelsea defender who has been there before, in 1984.

----------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CUP GROUP THREE ----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts Spain 5 2 3 0 8 0 7 Rep of Ireland 4 2 2 0 6 0 6 Denmark 4 1 3 0 1 0 5 Lithuania 5 1 3 1 5 5 5 Northern Ireland 4 1 2 1 5 3 4 Latvia 7 0 4 3 3 13 4 Albania 5 1 1 3 2 9 3 -----------------------------------------------------------------