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Match-winner Washington revels in 'fairytale' Windsor bow

&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">Conor Washington fires home the winning goal against Slovenia at Windsor Park last night. Pictures: Pacemaker</span>
 Conor Washington fires home the winning goal against Slovenia at Windsor Park last night. Pictures: Pacemaker  Conor Washington fires home the winning goal against Slovenia at Windsor Park last night. Pictures: Pacemaker

CONOR Washington described his match-winning performance in Northern Ireland’s victory over Slovenia last night as “a fairytale”.

The QPR striker was making only his second appearance for Northern Ireland, his first at Windsor Park, and he stole the show with a bustling, busy performance capped by netting the 41st minute winner.

Minutes after having an effort saved by Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak, Washington left the highly-rated Atletico Madrid stopper rooted to the spot with a clever finish after bursting into the box.

The 23-year-old has quickly become a crowd favourite with the Northern Ireland support, and he left the pitch to huge ovation after 70 minutes, replaced by Josh Magennis.

“It’s probably one of the highlights of my career so far and yeah, it was just an incredible experience, a fairytale,” said Washington.

“It was one of those things. It happens in your head really… I just tried to be cool with the finish and I was just glad to see it go into the back of the net.

“It was one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever experienced and that was with only three out of four stands. I’m really looking forward to playing in it at full capacity.

“As a striker you want to score goals so I’ve done my job in that respect, but I could have scored another, or set up Wardy [Jamie Ward], he’ll kill me for that.

“I just worked hard and tried to fit in with the team, how we’re playing and how hard we’re working for each other. Not a bad performance, but there’s always room for improvement.”

On the reception he received when leaving the pitch, he added: “Yeah it was incredible. I felt like I could’ve played another 45 minutes after I heard that, the atmosphere was incredible.”

With Northern Ireland not exactly overburdened with goalscorers, and with main man Kyle Lafferty short of match action, Washington looks a shoo-in for a place in Michael O’Neill’s squad for this summer’s European Championships in France.

But the former postman, who was playing non-league football five years ago, isn’t getting carried away just yet.

“I don’t know about that,” he said, laughing.

“I just take every game as it comes. It was nice to get my goal tonight but I’ve just got to keep working hard when I go back to QPR and see where that takes us.”