Northern Ireland showed their stubborn side in a 0-0 friendly with Wales at Windsor Park and that augurs well for the forthcoming European Championship qualifier against high-flying Sweden. While the match may be quickly forgotten, there were a number of positives for manager Lawrie Sanchez.

David Healy continued his remarkably prolific run of international form to propel Northern Ireland to the top of Group F in a dramatic Euro 2008 qualifier.

The Leeds striker scored twice to secure a memorable win and make it nine goals in this campaign and 29 in 56 international appearances. "I've run out of words to describe David Healy," said his manager, Lawrie Sanchez. "We gave him two chances tonight and he scored both of them, that's world-class finishing."

It was the visitors, however, who scored first, in the 26th minute, when Johan Elmander steered the ball in from Niclas Alexandersson's knock-back.

But within four minutes Healy had responded with a stunning equaliser, ghosting between two defenders to send a superb volley over Andreas Isaksson.

Both Healy and Warren Feeney were unsettling Sweden's defenders and the hosts were rewarded when Healy made it 2-1 in the 59th minute, meeting Damien Johnson's cross with a smart shot into the corner.

Northern Ireland: Taylor, Duff, Hughes, Craigan, Evans, Johnson, McCann, Davis, Brunt, Healy, Feeney
Substitutes: Laverty (Feeny 79), Webb (Healy 89), Sproule(Brunt 90)

Sweden: Isaksson, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Edman, Andersson, Alexandersson, Svensson, Ljungberg, Ibrahimovic, Elmander