McCarthy points to tight contest

Mick McCarthy yesterday hailed Macedonia's 1-1 draw with Croatia at Skopje on Saturday as another illustration of the competitive make-up of Group Eight of the European Championship.

Macedonia, seeded fourth in the group behind Yugoslavia, Croatia and the Republic of Ireland, recovered from a first-half pounding to salvage a late equaliser and move to the top of the table on goal difference.

"It proves what I've always said - every point in this group is going to have to be earned the hard way.

"On the face of it, it was a good result for us. But it only becomes a good a result if we beat the Macedonians on Wednesday."

After Davor Suker had put Croatia ahead in the first half, Macedonia dominated after the interval when they had a goal disallowed before equalising with just 10 minutes to go.

Barnsley's Georgi Hristov, who scored the winner against Ireland two years ago, celebrated his introduction as a substitute by linking with Sasa Curcic to score from just inside the penalty area.

"On Wednesday, there's going to be a different Barnsley hero," said a tongue-incheek McCarthy.

In spite of the Skopje result, their best in the championship so far, Macedonia are not expected to change their match plan when they seek to overturn a 3-0 defeat on their last appearance in Dublin.

"I don't expect them to throw players forward - it doesn't happen like that when you play away from home in competitive games," said McCarthy. "They'll be looking to get people behind the ball and catch us on the break."

The Ireland manager, who hopes to watch a video of Saturday's game before completing his preparations for Lansdowne Road, supervised a practice match in which his senior team played Ian Evans's under-21 side yesterday.

Significantly, Jason McAteer did not play in the game and now the manager may have a difficult decision to make today when he assesses the Blackburn player's rate of recovery from a calf muscle injury.

"In the sense that he has been working hard in the gym and doing a lot of swimming, he's fit, but obviously I need to see how he performs on the pitch before making a decision," he said.

There was better news of Alan McLoughlin, one of the players who could enter the equation if McAteer is ruled out. McLoughlin has recovered from flu and will be available for selection when the team is named shortly before the game.

Likewise, Gary Breen, an absentee from the Northern Ireland game because of a toe injury, is fit. However, McCarthy has still taken the precaution of expanding his cover at the back by calling in Leeds's Alan Maybury from the under-21 squad.