A goal each from Evans himself and Warren Feeney - and a bizarre own goal - helped Nigel Worthington's team go top their group.

Asked on Sky Sports 1 whether the result had put Northern Ireland back on course for South Africa, Evans said: "I think it was back on track in the two previous games, we got six points from them.

"It was a big game and we hope we can do the same again on Wednesday (against Slovenia)."

Feeney was delighted to have played his part too.

"It means a lot to score," he said. "I love playing for my country and I was buzzing, but all the lads from back to front were phenomenal.

"We are happy with the result and I think we deserved it."

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Celtic goalkeeper Boruc had to endure constant baiting from the crowd but coach Leo Beenhakker insisted this was not the reason behind the own goal.

Beenhakker said: "We are talking about a goalkeeper who is very experienced. If you play for Poland and in the Champions League, I do not think he would be worried about this situation.

"If he was 20 and playing for the international team for first time maybe that might be the case but not with Artur. Let's be reasonable.

"As a manager you cannot legislate for personal mistakes and technically it was a very poor game.

"Northern Ireland's first goal was a present but we reacted in a positive way. Even when they scored a second I was totally confident we could get something from the game. But the third goal killed us."