Bryan Hamilton still can not field his strongest side for Northern Ireland's penultimate group nine World Cup game on September 10th against Albania in Zurich.

Back in come West Ham team-mates Iain Dowie and Steve Lomas after completing one-match bans but out goes another Hammer, Michael Hughes, to serve his one-match suspension after two yellow cards, his second for over-celebrating his goal against Germany on August 20th.

Northern Ireland's manager will almost certainly award a fourth full cap to teenager Philip Mulryne who is now in Manchester United's first team squad.

In any case, Northern Ireland play only for pride now. Their qualifying prospects vanished completely in a 3-1 defeat by the Germans.

But Hamilton insisted: "This isn't a meaningless match. Nor is the one in Portugal next month. Winning them will improve our world ranking.

"They'll be helpful as well because we have so many players with limited international experience. With more games, the better they will get."

Goalkeeper Tommy Wright also returns for the next match which has been switched to Switzerland because of security worries in the Albanian capital Tirana.