Decent result keeps fate in our own hands
Ability to grind out the points sees us perfectly poised, says Richard Sadlier
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'Let us not get carried away, Ireland are not exactly a force in football," Nasko Sirakov, general manager of the Bulgarian national team, led the pre-match trash-talk. Our alleged tactical predictability and inferior technique gave the Bulgarians great confidence beforehand, but results are what really matter in the end.
It wasn't the smoothest of build-ups to the game for Giovanni Trapattoni. Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane, Shay Given and Caleb Folan all missed training due to injury, while the problems with Dean Kiely seemed, from the outside anyway, to have been very much self-inflicted.
The fact that Shay Given was carrying an injury in his hip meant the loss of an experienced number two could have backfired enormously. The inclusion of Sean St Ledger and Caleb Folan in the starting line-up demonstrated once again the dearth of players with international experience available to our Italian manager beyond the first-choice 11.
When Richard Dunne headed us into the lead, it was thoroughly deserved. Folan was very effective, dominating in the air. His intelligent link-up play with Stephen Hunt brought about the free-kick from which we scored.
The ability of the Bulgarians to keep the ball was well known, but we took command of the game and began like a team determined to go to the top of the group rather than merely settle for a play-off spot. As ever, the manager's tendency to focus on avoiding defeat rather than play to win was an issue before kick-off, but the manner in which the players applied themselves from the outset suggested their sights were set firmly on victory.
Disappointingly, the lead would last a mere five minutes. In a repeat of events in Croke Park, an error in defence cost us dearly.
Kevin Kilbane, the apparent focal point of all Bulgaria's attacking play, failed to take command of the situation which led to the goal. The inexperience of Sean St Ledger may have contributed, but it wasn't the first time in this campaign where we were guilty of conceding the poorest of goals. Given the pre-match concerns of the superior technique and class of some of the Bulgarians, it was all the more frustrating to see them equalise in such a relatively weak manner.
While there were opportunities for the Bulgarians in the first half, Berbatov should have scored five minutes after the break. Quite why he chose not to head the ball or strike it first time is beyond me, but for once his usually sublime first touch let him down.
There was no repeat of the first-half performance with the Bulgarians taking control. Whether it was from an instruction at half-time, end-of-season fatigue or the ability of the opposition, we played the majority of the second half without the ball, failing to retain it when required.
While the need to change was obvious, it was unclear at the time of his substitution whether Keane was withdrawn due to an injury or his inability to affect the game as we would have hoped. He's still the most likely source of goals, but unfortunately he was relatively anonymous yet again. Aiden McGeady was brought on to replace Hunt, and very nearly won all three points in the final minute with a run and shot from distance. It would have been more than we actually deserved, but qualification is achieved by those who pick up points rather than those who just deserve to do so.
Folan worked tirelessly, and as we have come to expect, Dunne was immense once again. John O'Shea and Given were superb. Berbatov, whose apparent arrogance, laziness and brilliance dominated the pre-match focus of the Irish media, did not threaten in the way many were worried he would.
The unlikely outcome of topping the group is surely beyond us now, but a play-off spot may well be sealed away to Cyprus in September.
Hyped as the most important game of the campaign so far, a draw was a decent result and keeps our fate in our own hands.
We didn't have the ball for large spells, and we didn't create many chances. In the second half we were outplayed, and showed little signs of adding to Dunne's goal. However, our ability to grind out results sees us perfectly poised to achieve, at the very least, second spot in the group: surely the most we would have hoped for from the start.
richard.sadlier@gmail.com
- Richard Sadlier
