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 reviews how the Group F leaders sealed their passage into next summer's finals.

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Match statistics

NORTHERN IRELAND
Shots: 20
On target: 9
Possession: 44%
Corners: 10
Fouls: 4

GREECE
Shots: 10
On target: 6
Possession: 56%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 9

Was the result fair?

Without a doubt. Greece, to their credit, had their moments, but right from the get-go it was clear that Northern Ireland were ever so hungry to book their Euro 2016 spot and nobody was going to stop them tonight. Lady luck shone on Michael O'Neill's men at times, with Kostas Mitroglu hitting the post just before the break, but Northern Ireland, for the most part, made their own luck tonight.

Northern Ireland's performance

With Kyle Lafferty - who scored seven of Northern Ireland's 12 goals in qualifying - sidelined through suspension, the question was whether O'Neill's side could score the goals to book their Euro 2016 ticket. The answer? An emphatic yes. Lafferty was not missed by virtue of how well Magennis, on his full debut, led the forward line. He was a thorn in Greece's side all night and his goal just after the break was nothing more than he deserved. Behind him, Stuart Dallas and Oliver Norwood provided superb wide support, with the former setting up centre-midfielder Davis for the opener.

At the other end, an under-strength back four comprising Paddy McNair, Gareth McAuley, Craig Cathcart and Chris Brunt repelled everything that came their way, with McAuley particularly impressive in the heart of their defence. They switched off in the final minutes when Greece pulled one back, but it will certainly was not going to stop a party that will be rocking until the early hours. Northern Ireland are back in a major tournament for the first time since the 1986 World Cup.

Greece's performance

Winless Greece had endured a bad campaign but they are not a bad team, though they are still lacking a manager capable of utilising their collective talents. Based on how they started the clash, few would have been surprised to learn that Kostas Tsanas's side were bottom of Group F. They were sluggish in possession, far too susceptible to a high-energy pressing game, and their spearhead Mitroglu was too easily blunted again.

It was a luckless first-half display which summed up their campaign, with Mitroglu striking the post late on in the opening 45 minutes. They did deserve a goal and it came at the end when Vasilis Torosidis's excellent cross was bundled home by Aravidis. But in truth, the only positive for Greece is the fact that they are one game away from finishing this horrific campaign.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Steven Davis: It can only be the Northern Irish skipper, who opened the scoring and netted the third and killer goal with a fine header. At 1-0 up, the Southampton midfielder also produced a number of fine defensive contributions to preserve the advantage. Honourable mention to the excellent Magennis, but Davis was the stand-out candidate.

Biggest gaffe

Magennis could, and should, have opened the scoring midway through the first half but his on-the-turn volley from close range was deflected wide. On the face of it, Vangelis Moras seemed to do well to make the block, but replays proved that the Northern Irish striker certainly should have scored.

Referee performance

Bas Nijhuis had to wait the best part of 88 minutes before having a big decision to make when he rejected Corry Evans's penalty appeals, but the Dutch official got it right. With no yellow cards to dish out, he could barely have had a quieter night.

What next?

Northern Ireland: O'Neill's side travel away to Finland on Sunday night.

Greece: The Greeks round off a disappointing campaign by hosting Hungary on the same night.

Written by
Shane Callaghan