Chris Hughton has described the boost that will be given to the Republic of Ireland squad when striker Robbie Keane joins them in Tirana tomorrow to take part in Wednesday's Euro 2004 qualifier against Albania.
Keane missed last night's 2-1 victory over Georgia because he was spending time at home in Dublin following the death of his father on Monday.
But he is flying into Tirana to meet his international colleagues and will surely be in the team which takes on Albania in Ireland's Group 10 match two days later.
Few people in the Ireland camp know Keane better that assistant manager Hughton, as he works with him on a daily basis in his capacity as first team coach at Tottenham, and he knows the impact the 22-year-old's arrival with have on the squad.
"We are certainly looking forward to Robbie joining the squad, it will be a major boost," said Hughton. "It says something about the Irish squad that we have missed him and have gone through with him - of course not as dramatically as he has - the difficulty of losing his father.
"The fact he is prepared to jump on a flight and come and join the squad speaks volumes for him and for the squad. First and foremost is the fact he is coming, and any decision with regards to his selection is one for the manager.
"Robbie is a wonderful player. You really only get to know a player when you see him at close hand. Having seen Robbie play for his respective clubs and for Ireland before he joined Spurs I knew he was a good player, but when he came to Spurs it didn't take me long to realise he was an even better player than I thought.
"The area which I was pleased with most was his movement. He is regarded as a player who plays off a target man, but he can play anywhere along the front line. His ability and sharpness are there for all to see and of course he has an eye for goal."
It was another Tottenham player, utility man Gary Doherty, who scored Ireland's winner last night and with another three points the target in Tirana, it is not inconceivable that manager Brian Kerr will drop Damian Duff back into midfield at the expense of Lee Carsley and pair Doherty with Keane.
The pair have not played much competitive football up front together, but Hughton had no doubts the partnership could work.
He said: "Gary is the classic number nine, the target man, and if you look at the way Robbie plays you would see the two complementing each other - I see no reason why they couldn't. Robbie is the type of player who can play with anybody."
Meanwhile, Hughton paid tribute to the players for the way they dealt with the missiles which were hurled at them by Georgian fans.
The worst incidents saw Kilbane being hit on the arm by an open pen-knife, Damien Duff struck on the head by a plastic drinks bottle and Gary Breen hit by a ball bearing.
"It is one that at the time you are concerned about, but the players coped with it very well and concentrated on the performance," said Hughton. "You have to applaud the players that our focus was on the game."
Doherty revealed that a bottle was thrown at him after he scored the late winner, but fortunately it missed and struck a post.
He added: "That's a first for me, the missile thing. A pen-knife being thrown is a massive worry, but I think we'll leave that to UEFA and maybe they will punish them.
"It is out of our hands now and we must go on to Albania and get on with it. We got the result and that's all that's important to us."