OLIVER NORWOOD has no regrets about choosing Northern Ireland.
The Lancastrian midfielder, who qualifies to wear the green through his paternal grandparents, made three appearances for England Under 17s before switching allegiance.
The first time he featured for Ireland was in the B international clash with Scotland, who won 3-0 at Clyde FC’s Broadwood Stadium in May 2009.
The Scotland side included Norwood’s new Town teammate Scott Arfield.
The first of Norwood’s 11 Under 21 caps (four goals) followed three months later while in May 2010, he represented Northern Ireland in the European Under 19 Championships, scoring three times in as many appearances.
A senior debut came in the 2-0 friendly defeat away to Montenegro in August 2010.
And he will hope for a seventh cap against Finland at Belfast’s Windsor Park on Wednesday, August 15.
That game is in preparation for a 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign which brings home and away matches against Azerbaijan, Israel, Luxembourg, Poland and Russia.
“My Manchester United teammate Jonny Evans (pictured left) persuaded me to give Northern Ireland a go and I’ve never regretted it,” he said.
