Away form proves our undoing

SOCCER:Bare facts don't lie. This is the first time in recent memory that we are not in contention to qualify for a major tournament with three games remaining.

It must go back to the opening defeats and the blasé reaction to accepting two away fixtures from the off when the team was in a transitional period under an inexperienced new manager.

Losing in Germany and Cyprus contributed to the four points in five away games that ultimately proved our downfall. Instead of improving a traditionally poor away record we have sunk deeper into the mire on the road.

The next three games are depressingly about building towards the World Cup qualification. They are effectively friendly internationals regardless of the novelty Croke Park brings.

At least the players can be commended for their endeavour right to the finish last night.

The only time I ever criticised a referee at international level was when Kyros Vassaras took charge of the Israel game at Lansdowne Road in 2005. He denied Robbie Keane a penalty and sent off Andy O'Brien.

The Greek official likes his yellow cards; I counted nine last nights and a straight red in a game lacking meaty challenges.

One of the first things you see at Prague airport is a massive billboard of the Chelsea goalkeeper. Petr Cech is a national icon. The local media must have gone into overdrive when they realised Stephen Hunt was a key man in the Irish squad.

The crowd were on his back the moment he replaced the injured John O'Shea after 38 minutes. It seemed to inspire Hunt and he contributed admirably to our good spell coming up to half-time.

The jeering continued into the second half and maybe Mr Vassaras bought into it when making a split-second decision on the clash with Jan Polak. But my initial reaction was it was an over-zealous challenge. He didn't need to dive in and maybe the crowd got to him.

We struggled to deal with the fluid movement, interchanging of positions and precise passing particularly from Jaroslav Plasil, Tomas Rosicky and Libor Sionko on the right wing.

Kevin Kilbane tried to snuff this out by coming inside, as did Aiden McGeady, but when our midfield narrowed the Czechs went at our full-backs at pace.

Rosicky wreaked havoc for the first half hour. The momentum and pace of their counterattacks exposed the out-of-position Stephen Kelly. They were pouring down his side.

We weren't able to deal with their physicality either.

McGeady looked destined to be replaced before half-time as he was losing possession too easily. Until, of course, O'Shea sustained his injury that allowed Hunt into the action. The Reading winger immediately rubbished the initial team selection with an enthusiastic performance.

Then the Czechs did a decent impression of us. After Marek Jankulovski combined with Plasil for a well-worked goal, littered by some Irish rashness, they gradually went into their shell.

They are in decline since the World Cup and when they got the lead the pressure on them to hang on forced them into taking the wrong options. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? At least it's not just an Irish problem.

Kelly settled down in his preferred right-back slot, Kilbane solidified the left and most importantly Andy Reid got hold of the game and dictated the play with his passing.

As is the norm, Richard Dunne was excellent at both ends, including a great little through ball for Kevin Doyle that looked like a goal when he hit it.

That spell of pressure was our only real chance as we were never going to dictate the tempo against the Czechs when we were down to 10 men.

Positives? The back four as a unit, after the enforced change that saw Kilbane at left back, looked compact and something to build upon. The defensive leadership of Dunne is now of world-class pedigree. The commitment of Carsley and Reid kept us in the contest right through the second half but the best chance of a goal always looked to come from a set-piece.

It's not all bad for Steve Staunton either as his substitutions, which have rightly been criticised, particularly last Saturday, were spot on here. Hunt was an essential move but the decision to put Shane Long in was brave considering we were reduced to 10 men. Andy Keogh is a potential goalscorer so he was also worth the risk.

The emergence of the young talent and the return of Damien Duff, Steve Finnan and Stephen Ireland give hope for this team to make a decent assault on the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Hopefully we can get the team balance right the next time the stakes are raised.