Great escape sparks relief

Mick McCarthy was making no attempt to minimise the dimensions of the escape as he reflected on last night's drama in the Ta'Qali Stadium. Outside, the Maltese supporters in a crowd of 15,000 were streaming away from the grounds in a mood which suggested that they had won the game.

In fact, in every aspect except the scoreline the Cinderella men, made up of a bunch of part-time professionals, had proved the equals of an Irish team drawn in the main from the exalted domain of the English Premiership.

Expectations of a game pocked with the threat of imminent disaster were wholly substantiated as the Maltese dug themselves out of deep trouble to dominate the game in the second half.

"In Croatia four days ago, lady luck deserted us," said the Ireland manager, "but tonight I think she was playing in central midfield for Ireland. "The Maltese, as I predicted, gave us enough problems to last a week. They were very spirited, very strong going forward and on another night may well have got out with a draw."

The Ireland manager, clearly drained by the events of the preceding couple of hours, professed a deep sense of relief. "I'm glad I rested so many players for the game in Croatia for as tonight's match proved, they had nothing more to give," he said. "They were as unsparing and unselfish as ever but in the end, they had nothing left in their tanks."

Questions as to how the Irish might fare in the more demanding assignment of beating Macedonia on their own terrain were diplomatically avoided. This wasn't an occasion to probe too deeply into a title challenge, undeniably weakened by Davor Suker's injury-time winner for Croatia last Saturday.

"I'm pleased and relieved that we got the six points we had hoped for at the outset of this three-match programme," said McCarthy. "Sometimes you do not always get what you deserve in football. On other occasions you get the rub of the green and you manage to escape from tricky situations. Tonight's game was a classic example of that."

McCarthy added: "While a lot of people will question the quality of our performance, it cannot be denied that Malta played very well. They showed no fear even when they went two goals down. And in the end, they were playing with so much confidence that they were dangerous every time they moved into our half.

"It's true that we contributed to our own problems when we stopped passing the ball, but that in turn was a result of the tiredness which was creeping into players' legs."

Josif Ilic, Malta's Yugoslav manager had double reason for satisfaction as he reflected on the day's results. In Skopje yesterday, his fellow countrymen had bounded towards the European finals with their second win in four days over a potentially dangerous Macedonian team.

And here in Valetta, Ilic, burdened with an unenviable record of seven straight defeats in the European Championship, had at last cause for comfort.

"People didn't believe us when we said that we were a little unlucky to lose 2-1 in Croatia. Now I hope that they have changed their minds after this performance by Malta here.

"For the second game in a row our players showed that they could take on world class opposition and not be afraid," he said before adding: "On this performance, Ireland have problems going into their game in Macedonia."

On the credit side for Ireland was the fact that after the glut of yellow cards handed out in Zagreb last Saturday, none of the players in action last night were booked and given the fact that five of them were already on cautions, that was a cause of satisfaction for McCarthy.

Elsewhere however, there was little to reassure for the bigger, more demanding tasks looming up in the weeks and months ahead if McCarthy is to sustain the momentum acquired in last week's win over Yugoslavia at Lansdowne Road.