HUDDERSFIELD Town duo Oliver Norwood and Joel Lynch will head into today’s big Championship clash at Birmingham buoyed by international call-ups.

Midfielder Norwood is in the Northern Ireland party for the World Cup qualifier in Portugal on Tuesday week, October 16.

And centre-back Lynch, back from a three-match ban at St Andrews, is among the Wales picks for their qualifiers against Scotland in Cardiff next Friday and in Croatia four days later.

Now Norwood will hope to become Town’s first Northern Ireland representative since fellow former Manchester United midfielder Jimmy Nicholson in 1971.

And Lynch will aim to follow in the footsteps of Steve Jenkins, the last Town player to turn out for Wales in 2001.

Former Nottingham Forest man Lynch, 24, made his Wales debut in the 2-0 friendly defeat by Bosnia Herzegovina at Llanelli in August.

He was forced to pull out of the squad for the opening qualifiers against Belgium and Serbia last month because of an Achilles tendon injury.

Both matches ended in defeat – Chris Coleman’s side slumped 6-1 in Serbia – leaving the new national manager already under pressure.

Norwood, 21, has six caps, but while in manager Michael O’Neill’s pool, didn’t play in either of last month’s opening two qualifiers.

The Irish went down 2-0 in Russia before a 1-1 home draw with Luxembourg, which left O’Neill still seeking his first win in charge.

Norwood won England junior caps before representing Northern Ireland at Under 19, Under 21 and B international as well as senior level.

Like Lynch, he is set to miss Town’s trip to Belfast to play Crusaders in a testimonial for Northern Ireland international Colin Coates on Wednesday.