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Nigel Worthington is to monitor the progress of Northern Ireland candidate Rory Patterson.

The Coleraine striker hit his 27th goal of the season as his side beat Dungannon Swifts 2-0 in the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final last night.

Worthington was in attendance for the match and said: "I thought Rory did alright in the first-half and he was sharp enough to get his goal.

"I didn't see an awful lot of him in the second-half but he wasn't alone there; it was just the way the game went. But I will continue to monitor his situation and it was good to see him first-hand after getting a lot of reports about him.

"All I can do now is wait to see what players in England and Scotland are available for [March's match against] Albania and we'll take it from there."

Patterson has previously played in England for Rochdale, FC United of Manchester, Bradford Park Avenue and Droylsden.