Northern Ireland go top

Warren Feeney got the hosts off to the perfect start with the opener on 10 minutes only for the in-form Ireneusz Jelen to equalise for the Poles.

But a second-half strike from Jonny Evans and an own-goal by Poland captain Michal Zewlakow put Nigel Worthington's side in the driving seat.

A late Marek Saganowski header proved a mere consolation for the Poles as Northern Ireland took all three points to leapfrog Slovakia, who were not in qualifying action, into top spot.

Slovenia and Czech Republic played out a goalless draw in a later kick-off.

The elements at a windy Windsor Park played a major part in proceedings as Poland failed to deal with the setting sun during the first half, a terribly bobbly pitch and the swirling wind.

Artur Boruc in particular struggled with the conditions, suffering as a result of his decision not to wear a cap despite apparently struggling to see clearly.

The Celtic keeper was at fault for both the first and the third goals and, having been subsequently subjected to merciless taunting from the home crowd, will surely want to forget all about what was a hugely disappointing evening for the Poles.

The rot set in after just 10 minutes when Boruc flapped at Chris Brunt's high cross that got caught in the wind. The ball looped over his head, allowing Damien Johnson to head back across the face of goal where Feeney was on hand to tap in from close range.

The hosts deserved their early lead, having started the brighter of the two sides as Poland's back line struggled both to attune to the pace of the game and the conditions.

Even before Feeney found the back of the net the Northern Irish side had two glorious opportunities to take the lead, Feeney himself firing a decent strike just wide of the mark before strike partner David Healy was denied by Boruc in a one-on-one situation following a Polish mistake in defence.

But Boruc was not alone in a putting in a sub-standard performance: his defence appeared equally nervous from the opening whistle and their showings were equally shambolic.

The central pairing of Dariusz Dudka and Zewlakow were shaky throughout and at times their distribution was far from international standard.

But despite regular holes appearing at the back, Poland still managed to make a breakthrough at the other end as Auxerre striker Jelen latched on to Roger Guerreiro's through pass to fire past Maik Taylor to equalise on 27 minutes.

Parity lasted just over 20 minutes before Evans swooped to prod home his first international goal from close range courtesy of Grant McCann's fine corner soon after the break.

The hosts continued to press forward and were rewarded with a third on 62 minutes when Zewlakow played an innocuous-looking back pass to Boruc. The keeper opted to deal with it first time, despite having seen Taylor nearly fall foul to a bobble at the same end in the first half.

Sure enough, the ball hit a divot, leaped over Boruc's boot and into the back of an unguarded net.

Gareth McAuley went close to making it four with a powerful header from a corner on 73 minutes before substitute Saganowski signalled his intent with a header of his own which bounced inches wide of the upright.

The Southampton striker did find the back of the net in injury time with a brave diving header, but it proved to be nothing more than consolation as the home side saw out the remaining time without further incident to record a famous victory.

In the other Group 3 match of the day, Slovenia were left ruing missed opportunities after their 0-0 draw against the Czech Republic.

The two teams both have eight points from five games, one behind second-place Slovenia who have played a match less. Northern Ireland top the group with 10 points from six games.

Slovenia first threatened the Czech's goal after eight minutes but Milivoje Novakovic's header went wide.

Slovenia's Zlatko Dedic and Czech Milan Baros also had several scoring opportunities.