Full points vital if Irish are to keep interest alive

It's a game that the Ireland under-21 manager concedes his side really have to win if they hope to qualify from their group but Ian Evans once again finds himself without a string of first-choice players for this evening's clash with Macedonia at Terryland Park.

Four are suspended, the result of some ill-discipline in earlier outings the thought of which clearly still irritates him, while Andy O'Brien and Daryl Clare are amongst those nursing injuries. And then there is the inevitable loss of a couple more to the senior panel for Wednesday's game.

"It's a problem, of course, but I've come to accept since I took this job that I will never have the strongest possible team out there and I'm not complaining because I'm always happy enough that the players I do have are decent enough and willing to do whatever I ask of them.

"That's not to say that it doesn't cause some difficulties. For this game I'm having to ask Dave Worrell to help me out at left back when that's not really where I'd like to play him but, in the circumstances, I don't have a lot of choice. On the brighter side, though, I have two Premiership players in the centre of midfield." One of the more positive aspects of this evening's game, he reckons, will be the competitive debut in a green jersey of right sided midfielder Martin Rowlands, a teenage prospect who plays with Brentford and has been attracting a fair bit of attention across the water.

"We've been looking to get him for a while so I'm happy that he'll be out there but then it's a pity that Andy O'Brien is missing out and there's obviously another couple of players who I wouldn't mind having available for a game like this."

Kevin Kilbane is probably one that springs to mind for the former Welsh international who knows that his team must improve on their recent scoring record against a team that were beaten 20 by Croatia at the weekend.

A similar result would do the Irish nicely although to achieve it they would have to improve dramatically on the strike rate in the friendlies (one goal scored in three matches) they have played since drawing in Yugoslavia back in November.

Evans has decided against starting with Trevor Molloy, preferring instead to pair Stephen Grant and Neale Fenn up front while Rowlands on the right and Alan Mahon out on the left will be the ones expected to get into the sort of positions from which they can provide some decent crosses.

Having seen the Macedonians in October, Evans says that he is "75, maybe 80 per cent" sure of the game they'll play and who their key players will be "but we'll be looking to do things our way and the time we've had has given us the sort of opportunity to prepare for this game that you don't get, too often, at this level."

Team

Ireland: O'Reilly (West Ham); Boxall (Brentford), Hawkins (St Patrick's Athletic), Ferguson (Coventry), Worrell (Dundee Utd); Rowlands (Brentford), Quinn (Coventry), McPhail (Leeds), Mahon (Tranmere); Fenn (Tottenham), Grant (Stockport).