Healy's already 'God' at Fulham

It has not taken long for Fulham fans to give the same hero worship to David Healy as he enjoys with Northern Ireland.

Emails, messages and fan mail are already arriving at the club simply addressed to 'God'.

That is after three games when he should have had three goals but for the linesman who did not see that his late strike against Middlesbrough last Saturday was a foot behind the line.

And the striker scored twice for Northern Ireland in midweek in their 3-1 win over Liechtenstein.

Lawrie Sanchez, Fulham's ex-Northern Ireland boss, can afford to feel a touch smug that he knocked Leeds down this summer from £3million-plus for a bargain £1m deal.

As Fulham visit Aston Villa today, Sanchez says of Healymania: 'If we get emails for him, what do they call him? "God". "Please pass this on to God" — that's what they call him.

'Whatever you think David Beckham is here, David Healy is that in Northern Ireland. He gets the same level of hero worship.'

Healy now has an incredible 31 goals in 57 internationals, Sanchez adding: 'I was away in midweek but when I heard the boys had won 3-1, it was just a question of how many David scored — and I'm disappointed he didn't get another hat-trick!'