Irish change tactics for Malta

Ireland Under-21 manager Ian Evans has made two changes from the side that drew 2-2 with Croatia last month for this afternoon's European Championship qualifier against Malta in Arklow.

Manchester City striker Barry Conlon has been suspended for three games by UEFA after being sent off in Buckley Park six weeks ago.

Derek Coughlan, who was substituted on his debut in Kilkenny after Conlon's dismissal forced the Irish boss into a tactical reshuffle, suffers again this time on the basis of team formation.

Evans wants to revert to 4-4-2 for this game and he admits to preferring the Cork City defenders as one of three central defenders.

In for the pair come Under-21 Player of the Year Colin Hawkins, who has made a successful comeback from injury since the Croatia game, and Aston Villa's Alan Lee. The Birmingham-based striker made his debut at this level thanks in no small part to the additional time training that Evans and his panel were allowed by the postponement of last Friday's game in Yugoslavia.

"He's one of the ones who benefited from that all right," says Evans. "I've been really impressed with what he's done since joining up with the panel which I have to say surprised me a little because I brought him for one of the games at the tail end of the last campaign and at that stage he didn't really look up to it."

Evans began to change his mind about the big Galwayman a couple of weeks ago when he saw him in action for Villa's reserves against Nottingham Forest. "Everybody was taking notice of him that night, all of the scouts and that and, to be honest, I don't know what had caused the difference but he looked 10 times the player he had been before the summer."

Lee's partner up front will be Grimsby's Daryl Clare whose scoring record at club level just now, three goals from one start and three appearances as a substitute, is remarkable.

Down the left Kevin Kilbane, whose own progress with West Bromwich went some way to inspiring the switch in formation, is also identified by Evans as a key figure.

"Kevin did well as a wing back but I wanted to get him that bit more forward in the hope of getting a bit more out of him," says the Welshman. "Ultimately, though, everybody is used to playing 4-4-2, it's what every player in Britain and Ireland is used to so it's easy to fall back into."

The Maltese, who Evans saw beaten in their opening game by Macedonia thanks only to a penalty, have no points from their two games so far but despite the game being poor the Irish manager is cautious about his side's prospects this afternoon. "There wasn't a whole lot of quality in the game to be honest but the Maltese made it obvious that they didn't want to be beaten and I don't think they'll make it easy for us in this game either."