Alex Neil has no regrets over his Kyle Lafferty snub, with the Norwich City loan striker now in prolific goalscoring form for Northern Ireland.

Lafferty moved on loan to Turkish club Rizespor in January after only one goal in 18 Championship appearances for the Canaries, but the 27-year-old has notched five times in his country's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Neil insisted he is delighted to see the striker proving his worth on the international stage.

'It doesn't alter my thinking. I am really pleased he is doing well,' he said. 'I sent Kyle a text before the (Finland) game wishing him all the best, as I did with all the international lads. I am pleased he managed to score his two goals and he is a good player. If he wasn't he wouldn't be at a club like Norwich and he wouldn't be playing international football.

'We know what he is capable of but we also have other guys in the squad who are capable of scoring goals.

'Kyle obviously wanted to play first team football and get guaranteed minutes and that was something at the time we couldn't guarantee.

'I think certain players are suited to a certain style of play. You see players go to a certain club, they don't fit in and then all of a sudden they look a special player at a different team. I think Kyle's attributes suit the way Northern Ireland play, that sole role up front when they look to suck opposition in and hit them on the counter. Whereas if you look at our style and what our task is most weeks in this division teams will sit in against us and we have to try and break them down.'