Northern Ireland v Georgia:NIGEL WORTHINGTON has hailed David Healy's prolific scoring record at international level and insisted: "I'll never drop him."
The Fulham striker has found himself out of favour at Craven Cottage for much of the season but he will once again be the main man when Northern Ireland take on Georgia at Windsor Park tonight.
Healy broke Davor Suker's 12-year European Championships qualifying record in the last campaign as his 13 strikes brought Worthington's side to within a whisker of making it to Austria and Switzerland this summer.
Uefa president Michel Platini will be in Belfast to present Healy with a special award to recognise his feats in front of goal. And the former France star has said the record will be difficult to top.
Platini explained: "The outstanding performance of David Healy in the qualifying competition of the European Championships and his tally of 13 goals is a new record and deserves to be recognised.
"I'm sure that this record will last for some time to come and will be hard to beat. This is why I will be presenting him with a special award to celebrate his fantastic achievement."
Worthington is not too concerned about Healy's lack of first-team opportunities at Fulham but he has admitted Northern Ireland cannot afford to leave him out of their side when the World Cup qualifying campaign begins in September - even if he his still out of favour at club level.
The former Norwich manager explained: "David fully deserves his award after the number of goals he scored. In an ideal world I want all my players to be playing regularly for their clubs but as long as they keep their fitness and mental attitude right they should not be a million miles away."
Healy himself said yesterday: "It's a great honour. First and foremost I'm looking forward to meeting one of the greats of European and world football. For him to take the time out to come to Belfast to present the award is a great honour. I'm looking forward to meeting the great man."
After four early withdrawals from the squad - West Brom's Chris Brunt and Sammy Clingan of Nottingham Forest were allowed stay with their clubs this week - Worthington is down to the bare bones.
Gareth McAuley was carrying a knock but has trained twice and is likely to start against the Georgians, who will compete with the Republic of Ireland in Group Eight at the qualifying stages of the 2010 World Cup.
Worthington knows there is nothing riding on this game but will be hoping for a much-improved performance from last month's defeat to Bulgaria.
