Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty paid tribute to the team's effort after he starred in a 2-1 win over Finland.

Lafferty's first-half brace was enough to win the game for Michael O'Neill's side and keep them only a point behind European Championship qulifying group F leaders Romania, who beat the Faroe Islands 1-0.

They had to endure a nervous finish after Berat Sadik's late goal but held on for victory.

Lafferty said: "It was obviously nervous but we deserved to win the game.

"It was excellent today, the attitude, the heart and the team performance."

The Turkish-based frontman's first goal was an excellent volley on the turn before he nodded in the second, taking him second among his country's all-time leading scorers ahead of Colin Clarke and Billy Gillespie.

And he said: "Obviously it's all going right for me at the minute and I'm enjoying it.

"The first goal, I decided to hit it first time and luckily it went in.

"But it's down to the team, everyone was excellent today. Although I'm getting the goals and the rewards you have to look at the team performance."

Defender Jonny Evans, currently serving a six-match ban for Manchester United for spitting, was delighted to be able to contribute for his team.

"It was great to be out there and especially to get the win," he said.

"We ground out the result and Kyle scored two great goals.

"It puts us in a really good position going into June, we play Romania here and it'll be a top-of-the-group clash."