Saturday’s match at Windsor Park summed up Northern Ireland in 2009 — plenty of effort, endeavour and promise but ultimately not much to show for it.

The 1-0 defeat to Serbia was only in a friendly, so it mattered little in the great scheme of things, but the game illustrated the main problems that our national side face as they enter 2010.

Firstly, we continue to be susceptible to conceding goals every time the opposition counter-attack.

It’s been a worry for years and unfortunately shows no sign of going away.

I doubt it ever will.

We can, however, do something about our other chief concern that if David Healy doesn’t score against decent sides, no one else does on a consistent basis.

The simple solution to that is Healy starting to hit the net again in time for the European Championship qualifiers.

If he doesn’t, others have to step up to the plate.

At the weekend Nigel Worthington opted to give Warren Feeney and Kyle Lafferty an opportunity in attack, dropping Healy to the bench — the first time the record goalscorer has ever failed to start a match at Windsor for which he was available.

Given there was no points at stake, if there was ever going to be a time for the previously unthinkable to happen, this was it.

The thing is, when Lafferty and Feeney have inspired for Northern Ireland, Healy has been beside them, so it was interesting to see how they did without the Killyleagh man.

Not bad was the answer, but the cutting edge wasn’t there against an edgy Serbia defence, with Nemanja Vidic still clearly not over his latest lesson from Fernando Torres.

I wouldn’t write the partnership off after one match, but I’d still prefer one of them and an on-fire Healy in Northern Ireland’s attack.

Lafferty’s best performances have been away from home. When he scored in Sweden and Poland in the last two campaigns he was phenomenal.

If he were to maintain that standard, I’m telling you we would have a world beater on our hands.

In contrast, Feeney’s most potent displays came in Belfast, against Poland and Slovenia in a four-day period earlier this year when he was outstanding.

Maybe you play Warren at Windsor and Kyle on the road!

How Worthington deals with that selection dilemma, with Martin Paterson back from injury thrown in for good measure, will go a long way to deciding if Northern Ireland will compete in their Euro 2012 qualifying group.

I’m a great believer that in international management, you deserve two campaigns to show what you are all about unless the first has been a complete nightmare, a la Steve Staunton with the Republic.

When Nigel came in during the last Euro series, it was much more Lawrie Sanchez’s side than his, but the World Cup qualifiers were all about the man from Ballymena.

The players will tell you that the set-up is more professional under Worthington and he certainly has a better relationship with the media than his predecessor, but the be all and end all in football is results.

On reflection over the last couple of years, I’d say they have been okay, but not earth shattering.

Bar beating San Marino, which even Scotland could do, Northern Ireland won only two other games out of eight in the World Cup campaign.

The manager must improve that ratio considerably next time around which brings us back to the forwards because they have to score the goals for that to happen.

You could say Nigel must strike the right note. Otherwise, despite all the effort, energy and promise from our committed group of players, we’re destined for more disappointment.