Struggle to make his Mark

SWEATING ON HIS PLACE Goalkeeper Mark Travers

MARK TRAVERS has been left sweating on his role between the posts.

Bournemouth’s back-up goalkeeper, 21, is usually the third choice for Ireland.

But with Darren Randolph and Caoimhin Kelleher injured, he was promoted and made his competitive debut in Serbia on Wednesday.

But Maynooth man Travers had a tough night and was caught off his line when Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic chipped him to put the Serbs ahead.

Kenny had told Travers ahead of that game that he would be starting as he felt the player would benefit from knowing.

But Kenny was offering no assurances facing Luxembourg tonight.

Asked if Travers would start, Kenny said: “We’re not going to confirm whether anyone is in or out at the moment.

“I haven’t picked the team and it wouldn’t be fair to do it in the media as the players are not aware of the team quite yet. I don’t think it would be fair to do that.”

Gavin Bazunu, 19, the former Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper now at Manchester City but playing regularly on loan at Rochdale, has a squeak at replacing Travers.

And Kenny hasn’t ruled out reverting to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation either, having experimented with 3-5-2 and 3-4-1-2 in Serbia.

“You can’t ignore that possibility,” he said.

“The way you achieve success is generally through continuity but you have to adapt depending on the players you have available and the opposition you face.”