Steven Davis scored twice as Northern Ireland beat Greece 3-1 in Belfast tonight to book their place at Euro 2016 and end a 30-year wait to reach another major tournament.

The Southampton man finished off a slick passing move to fire the hosts into a slender-half-time lead, before Josh Magennis added a second shortly after the break.

Davis's bullet header on 58 minutes then effectively sealed their place in France next summer, before Christos Aravidis reduced the arrears late on.

Here, Sports Mole analyses how the players fared on a historic night at Windsor Park.

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Goal

Michael McGovern: Pulled off a host of excellent saves when the score was 0-0. Without his intervention, the hosts might have had to wait in order to celebrate their Euro 2016 berth. (7/10)

Defence

Paddy McNair: Started at right-back but the Manchester United man did not look out of place and ventured forward excellently. It was his first start of the season for club and country but you would not have known it. (7/10)

Craig Cathcart: Excellent alongside McAuley for the most part, but the former Blackpool man lost the run of Aravidis in the build-up to Greece's goal. (6/10)

Gareth McAuley: Continues to belie his 35 years with a superb performance in the middle of Northern Ireland's defence. (7/10)

Chris Brunt: Pulled off a truly outstanding block on the stroke of half time to deny Karelis an equaliser. Slightly exposed at times at left-back in both halves, but decent overall from the West Brom man. (6/10)

Midfield

Steven Davis: The Southampton midfielder was brilliant at both ends, scoring the goals to secure the historic win and producing some fine contributions at the other end to protect them. (8/10)

Jamie Reid: Nowhere near as lively as Dallas was on the opposite wing, but was more than likely fielded due to his defensive work. (5/10)

Corry Evans: Chased plenty of lost causes and forced Greece into a number of errors with his high-intensity pressing, although the mistakes never led to clear-cut chances. (6/10)

Oliver Norwood: Grabbed a deserved assist when his sweetly-struck corner was looped home by Magennis. Somewhat faded after that, but still going to be a big player for them in France next summer. (7/10)

Stuart Dallas: Greece could not live with the winger's pace or trickery and the Leeds United man set up Davis for the opener from out wide. (7/10)

Attack

Josh Magennis: Proved himself a nuisance for Greece's defence as he led the forward line superbly, and grabbed a key second goal which was just desserts for his labours tonight. (8/10)

Substitutes

Liam Boyce: Only had 10 minutes in which to make an impact but did not prove more troublesome than Magennis. (5/10)

Goal

Orestis Karnezis: Could do little about the first goal, but could have perhaps done better for the second and third, for which he was beaten by a looping header and one from 20 yards. (4/10)

Defence

Vasilis Torosidis: Only sprung to life after the break, having looked rather cagey at right back during the first half, but still provided an excellent assist for their late goal. (6/10)

Vangelis Moras: Pulled off an excellent block to keep out Magennis in the first half but was also found wanting in all three of Northern Ireland's goals. (5/10)

Sokratis Papastathopoulos: Comfortably Greece's best defender, and probably best player, on the night after a slew of crucial interventions. It would have been much worse without him back there. (7/10)

José Holebas: Dealt well with Reid but did nowhere near enough at the other end, considering his attacking talents. (6/10)

Midfield

Andreas Samaris: Lucky to avoid being punished after being caught in possession a number of times in the first half, but looked a lot better after the break. (6/10)

Alexandros Tziolis: Could, and should, have opened the scoring but his weak back-post header was kept out by McGovern. (4/10)

Nikos Karelis: Tormented Brunt at times in the first half but had very little end product to affect the scoreline. (5/10)

Christos Aravidis: Reduced the arrears with a messy goal late on, but his darting run to reach Torosidis's cross left Cathcart for dead. Did nowhere near enough overall in a game which more or less passed him by. (6/10)

Pangiotis Kone: Could not really influence Greece's attack but certainly did not shirk his defensive duties and tracked back excellently throughout. (6/10)

Attack

Kostas Mitroglou: Perhaps unlucky to hit the post late in the first half, but was poor overall and absolutely not the target man that Greece desperately needed in this campaign. (5/10)

Substitutes

Petras Mantalos: Replaced Karelis but had precious little impact, despite having 25 minutes in which to do so. (4/10)

Stefanos Athanasiadis: Replaced the ineffective Mitroglu but, like Mantalos, did little to justify his substitution. (4/10)

Written by
Shane Callaghan