Morrison comes out shooting from hip

After opening up their campaign with three points, three goals and a clean sheet on Saturday afternoon it would take a lot to dampen the spirits of a buoyant Irish squad which arrived in Basel last evening.

They could, though, have done without being greeted by a mugginess and stifling humidity which, if it hangs in the air until tomorrow night, will make for sticky work in game two of the group.

The heat of the flashes from the cameras that greeted Roy Keane's emergence from Basel airport, the rest of the squad exiting largely unnoticed, might have upped the temperature a touch for the Manchester United captain, but he, too, appeared to be in cheerful form, despite word that he is not yet "100 per cent" after sustaining fractured ribs.

Clinton Morrison, one of the players Keane seems to have struck up a good relationship with since his return to the squad, did some temperature-raising himself yesterday when he accused Swiss forward Alexander Frei of racially abusing him when the teams last met in the European Championship qualifiers.

Frei will not be playing tomorrow night having picked up a suspension after being caught on camera spitting at England's Steven Gerrard during Euro 2004, after initially denying the offence. Morrison, though, says he will "have it out" with Frei when he returns for the game in Dublin next year.

"Alex Frei misses our game, does he?" he said yesterday. "Well, I am a bit disappointed because he made a remark to me in the last game which I owe him for. I am disappointed he ain't playing but we'll see him again at Lansdowne Road, hopefully.

"It was like a racist remark. I don't really want to repeat it. I just keep it to myself. He said it on the pitch, which I went mad about. I will get him when he comes to Dublin, we will have it out there."

Frei's agent was contacted to ask for a response to the allegation which, eventually, was forthcoming. "All I can say is that I am at Rennes (in France) with 15 coloured players and I've never had the slightest problem with them," he said. "It's easy to make these accusations. Maybe tomorrow someone who I played with when I was nine will say I once threw a bottle at them."

While Morrison's anger about the alleged incident was evident he was also clearly overjoyed to have broken a year-long run without an international goal. "A lot of people had been talking about me not scoring, I'd certainly been reading about it. It has been difficult, it has been at the back of my mind. I'm just pleased to have got the goal, I could have had a few more but I hadn't any football for the previous two weeks," he said. "Switzerland did us last year in the European Championship. There were a lot of things going on in the game which weren't nice. We owe them one and, hopefully, we can take the form we showed against Cyprus forward and get another win."

Morrison also paid tribute to the player he largely credited for Saturday's success. "I can't believe Andy Reid is still at Nottingham Forest, but his time will come. He will move eventually. He is a top talent. What a goal he scored."

Assistant manager Chris Hughton also praised Reid for his performance on Saturday and hinted that Tottenham, where Hughton is one of Jacques Santini's coaches, may make another attempt to sign the player in the January transfer window.

"It was a genuine interest from Spurs but in the end nothing came of it - but certainly from our club's point of view that interest is still there," Hughton confirmed.

"In international terms, he's growing. Cyprus was his best performance for us. His confidence is high, he's been in the squad regularly and it's showing. He's more comfortable now, not just with being in the group but with showing his ability.

"Sometimes when you get a young player who comes in there first, the focus is on not to do anything wrong. He's gone past that stage and it's about how much more he can show for us. He's exciting to watch, he's doing well."