THE WIN THAT GOT AWAY
Ireland rue missed chance for crucial victory after failing to build on brilliant first-half display
STEPHEN KENNY must lift his Iréland players against Armenia on Tuesday to avoid the embarrassment of Nations League relegation after a gutting 2-1 loss to Scotland in Glasgow last night.
Kenny felt the late penalty award to Scotland was ‘very harsh’ and lamented Ireland’s failure to take their chances as they blew a half-time lead to fall to their third defeat in the group.
Fresh after a week’s troublefree preparation, Ireland were the better team in the first half and were deservedly in front through John Egan.
But it went belly-up after the break as the Scots stormed back, sealing victory with a late penalty, which Kenny disputed.
‘I thought the penalty was contentious. It appears that Alan Browne was pushed by a Scottish player that resulted in him raising his hands in an unnatural position, if you like.
‘It was very congested but it seems that’s the case.’
From replays, Egan clearly shoved his team-mate, whose arm was out-stretched – the call was right. The result has left Kenny on three wins from his first 20 competitive games in charge, with Armenia to come on Tuesday.
‘Ukraine and Scotland are very strong. We should have earned more points than we have, we’re not denying that,’ said Kenny, who targeted promotion before the campaign started.
Armenia are the whipping
boys of the group but Kenny can’t afford to take anything for granted.
‘We’ve to make sure we’re ready on Tuesday. That’s our objective,’ said Kenny, who felt a precious win slipped out of Ireland’s grasp.
‘It’s a tough game to lose,’ said Kenny.
‘In the first half, we showed real maturity. We passed it brilliantly and showed a lot of control. We had a high degree of control in the first half. We had a goal disallowed and John Egan scored.
‘It was very disappointing to concede five minutes into the second half. We responded well, created some excellent chances but we couldn’t capitalise on them.
‘It came down to fine margins. We had a great chance through Troy Parrott.’
Egan lamented Ireland giving away ‘a cheap goal’ at the start of the second half, which ignited the Scots and felt the defeat was ‘a tough one to take.’
‘We’re very disappointed. We were brilliant in the first half but didn’t weather the storm early in the second half.
‘It’s a game we feel we should have won. We came out of the traps early and our two up top were creating carnage. We deserved a result.’
Steve Clarke knew his team came through a difficult test but didn’t agree with Kenny’s call on the decisive spot kick.
‘Half-time came at a good time for us as Ireland were better up to then. The penalty was right. If you jump with your hands forward and stop the ball going forward, it’s a penalty,’ he reflected.
Clarke revealed that Craig Gordon slipped out of the squad for a few hours to be with his partner who gave birth to a baby boy. ‘We let him skip the lunch-time meeting as he went for a wee kip. He comes out, plays and makes a great save in the second half.’ Ireland have led in their last two Nations League games but ended up with a point which indicates fault lines that need to be ironed out quickly.