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Northern Ireland will be hoping to make full use of their home advantage to snatch a vital win against Slovakia when the two teams play in their next World Cup qualifying game on Wednesday. Catch all the live World Cup qualifying action from that game by signing up with us here on Live Sport Network.

A vital 1-1 draw against Poland on Saturday saw Northern Ireland remain in contention to qualify for their first World Cup finals in more than 28 years. Ireland are currently sitting second in the group table with 14 points from eight games, three points more than Poland and Slovenia who have a game in hand.

Ireland looked on course for a famous win after taking a 1-0 lead through Kyle Lafferty's goal in the first half. However Poland fought back in the second half to equalize late in the game through Mariusz Lewandowski and could have had won the game but for some excellent saves by keeper Maik Taylor.

Coach Nigel Worthington has a serious injury concern ahead of the game against Slovakia with Lafferty injuring himself in the game against Poland and the Ireland coach admitted that the injury played a crucial part in his side's inability to build on their lead in the second half.

Slovakia on the other hand could all but clinch their first ever qualification to the World Cup finals after an excellent qualifying campaign. Vladimír Weiss' have emerged surprise leaders of the group and are currently sitting two points ahead of Northern Ireland and retaining a game in hand.

Slovakia were unlucky to come away from their match against Czech Republic with just one point after twice leading their fierce rivals. Stanislav Sestak and Marek Hamsik had scored to twice give Slovakia the lead late in the second half but the Czech’s managed to fight back to equalize on both occasions.