Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy claims he is satisfied that Neil Lennon, Gerry Taggart and Steve Lomas are genuinely injured and cannot face Yugoslavia tonight.

The Irish Football Association had threatened to invoke a FIFA ruling to prevent the Premiership trio from playing at the weekend after their clubs pulled them out of the Windsor Park friendly.

The IFA felt Leicester and West Ham might have been trying to ride roughshod over Northern Ireland ahead of the start of the Premiership season.

McIlroy, though, spoke to Lennon, Taggart and Lomas yesterday and he accepts that they are unfit to play.

"I've spoken to Lennon and Taggart and they were in the medical room at Leicester City," he said. "They assured me that they are injured and that they wanted to be here. So obviously, as far as I'm concerned, I have to believe these players. I have to take them at their word.

"I've also spoken to Steve Lomas on the phone and at least I've heard it from the players themselves."

The IFA may take a little more persuading though, and have asked the two clubs for medical reports on the players' injuries. They will not lift their threat to bar the players from representing their clubs at the weekend until they are wholly satisfied.

McIlroy has also spoken to Lennon and Taggart's Leicester boss Peter Taylor, who assured him that the pair could not play.

Lennon has a thigh injury and Taggart an ankle problem, and Taylor said: "I spoke to Sammy yesterday about the situation. I've had another word with him this morning and obviously he's not happy because it's frustrating for him."

West Ham have also insisted that Lomas cannot play because of tendinitis trouble. Physio John Green said: "Steve is injured, there's no doubt about that."

In addition to Lomas, Lennon and Taggart, McIlroy has also lost Peter Kennedy, Paul McKnight and Phil Gray through injury. This reduced his squad to 16 and he has responded by calling up uncapped Linfield striker Davy Larmour.

The part-timer, who spent two years as an apprentice at Liverpool, had to ask for time off from his job as a postman to join up with the Irish squad.

In the absence of Lomas and Taggart, McIlroy has named Ipswich midfielder Jim Magilton as his captain.

Magilton will be a key figure for the Irish against the highly-talented Yugoslavs, who have included the likes of Parma's £12 million striker Savo Milosevic, Lazio's Dejan Stankovic and Fiorentina's Predrag Mijatovic in their squad.

NORTHERN IRELAND (probable): Taylor; Nolan, A Hughes, Williams, Griffin; Magilton, Whitley, Horlock, Gillespie; Healy, Quinn.