Dizzy Back In The Spotlight

Gillespie is probably best remembered on Tyneside as the player Alan Shearer "lamped" outside a bar in Ireland after the Ulsterman made a prat of himself in front of drinkers, but personally I'd rather give him a little respect (probably more than he deserves). Some point to the signing of Tino Asprilla or the loss of form of Les Ferdinand for Newcastle throwing away the Premiership title in 1996, but I thought we lost too much ground following poor results when Gillespie was injured at Old Trafford.

The player has been impressed by the strides made by Sanchez and is confident Northern Ireland can bounce back in their final qualifier against Austria next Wednesday. "I still feel we are going in the right direction," said Gillespie. "We have improved a lot and in other times we would not have come back like we did. I feel we can get the right result in Austria despite this defeat.

"I do not think we should be too worried about things because of the way we have improved prior to this game. We did okay for the opening period before they hit us with two goals very quickly. But we always feel we can score now."