'Overall we were the better team'

Manager's reaction: Sometimes there's nothing left to be said apart from the obvious. We gathered in a room behind the stand in the quietly impressive GPS Stadium in Nicosia and took bets on what Brian Kerr would say. Three points is what mattered. We got the three points. We got what we came for. We are a match away from going on.

And we placed our recorders on the top table and waited.

Kerr duly arrived, dapper as usual and flanked by assistants. We wondered if they had been called upon to revive him with smelling salts during the first half when his team played some of the worst football ever seen in Nicosia. So bad was it that Cypriot journalists were turning to each other and saying that Cypriot football would have reached an all time low if the home team couldn't beat minnows like these.

Kerr sat. "Right," he said.

"Well what did you think?" we asked. (Don't ask us what we think Brian but, yes, that's the Sunday paper boys at the back rubbing their knives on the whetting stones.) "Well we came to win the game. We needed to win the game. We won the game. I'm satisfied with that. Cyprus made it very difficult for us. They played well. They went to Switzerland and took the game to Switzerland. The Swiss got a winner in the 88th minute. I wouldn't have thought they were too happy with the performance. I wouldn't have been happy with our performance but it was about us winning the game."

"And in the context of Wednesday?" Wednesday. It made us tremble to think about Wednesday. Duffer and Keane, Roy missing. Whenever we note modestly that the current team hasn't much class in it we always add, except for Duffer and Keane, Roy). "We'll have to play better. We'll have to play much better but the game is all to play for, as they say." (And somewhere in Switzerland a little while later the Swiss manager would be saying the same thing except his side were just coming off an epic tussle with France which had seen them equalise late on.) "Uhm, and where could we improve?" we asked archly. We were thinking to ourselves of course there are just two areas of performance which need attention, on the pitch and off the pitch. Kerr chose to deal with matters on the pitch.

"All around the pitch we can improve. The goalkeeper mightn't improve much but the back four. We need to defend better. In the earlier stages of the second half we were much better." And? "We need to work harder in the middle of the field and particularly in the wide position and keep the ball better when we get up front. In the second half we were better. We used it quite well at times and we were more composed and comfortable.

"You're never really comfortable until you get the second goal. That niggles. You don't want to concede one. We should have wrapped it up later on. We had two clear chances." At this point there was some audible grumbling from amidst the Cypriot journalists who were failing to hear their interpreter pass on the words "mind-blowing crap in the first half, slightly less so in the second".

Kerr dealt with the half-time introduction of Matty Holland which had contributed handsomely to Ireland looking in the second half like a park team and not park rangers. "I thought Matthew would give us a bit more. We'd get more hard work and effort and work rate. We were struggling in the wide positions. I thought by putting Matty in there we'd get a better shape about our midfield. I felt that proved to be the case." Good. Now back to the bad news. "Duffer? There is no hope, is there?"

"Damian Duff is quite sore," said Kerr. "It's early yet but he has to be very doubtful for Wednesday. He got a twist on his knee." The grumbling Cypriots had heard enough. They sought clarification on one matter. Fairness.

"I think it's a fair result," said Kerr. "The goalkeeper made a fair save from the penalty. To have a good team you have to have a very good goalkeeper. Our goalkeeper is very good. We looked at penalties. Cyprus have had earlier penalties in this group. We looked at these in advance. Goalkeeper played well but that's part of it. I think overall we were the better team. We made two clear-cut chances in the second half. We were quite comfortable in the second half although a second goal would have wrapped it up. The first half wasn't good enough." Pause.

"We need to play better." This was absorbed by the Cypriot contingent. Meanwhile, we looked for the silver lining. Stephen Elliot? "I've said often enough, he's come through the various teams. He's scored goals in all the underage teams through to under 21 . Now he's getting a chance. We've been bringing him along gently. Sunderland have started playing him up front again.

"Since he's gone into the box he has looked like the player he can be. He has a proven record. He's young yet. Good finish. It was a poacher's goal tonight. He adds a bit to it that we haven't had."

Kerr fielded a soft one about the fans. "Were they happy?" "Well you might ask them that. I can't speak for the fans. They sounded happy enough." The Cypriots have had enough. One of them is incandescent.

"You scored a goal after five minutes. For the rest of the 40 minutes you were lost. What went wrong. How can you say this was fair?" We sit up and smile beatifically at Brian Kerr. See? You thought the Irish media were bad? "Cyprus played well. Cyprus took the game to us. Maybe they were inspired by the fact that we had so many supporters here. They took the game to us. They played well, they had nothing to lose. The points were of no great importance. Their spirit and morale was. We made the blocks and the tackles and the saves that were necessary. That's what happens in away games."

"So you think that was a fair result. You made one chance in the second half and it was offside. Fair?" "I wouldn't see it as being an unfair result," said Kerr, beginning to look rattled. It is at this point the FAI normally wraps up press conferences.

"When Cyprus missed seven or eight chances and you made only one in the second half and that was in an offside position. How can you say that's a fair result?" "I wasn't in the position the linesman was in," said Kerr "That's your opinion." Okay? That's all? Said Pat the press wrangler from the FAI. Right on schedule.