Players take glass half full approach as they target the points in Moscow

REACTION:THERE WERE some recurring themes last night in the mixed zone where more than one Irish player opted to focus on the knack this side has shown over the years of rising to the occasion when results are required in big games played away against highly rated opposition.

The approach at least made it that much easier to avoid addressing the most glaring question in the immediate aftermath of last night’s scoreless draw with Slovakia: why is it Giovanni Trapattoni’s men consistently make life so difficult for themselves by failing to perform against beatable opponents on their own patch.

Where the players divided last night was on the issue of just how big a result is required in Moscow next week, with the likes of Aiden McGeady and Keith Andrews suggesting that the original four points from two games target still stands if they are to have any chance of still topping this group and securing automatic qualification for next summer’s European Championship finals.

The Spartak Moscow winger went as far as to concede that the Russians are now in the driving seat with Ireland and Slovakia effectively scrapping for second place. Others, though, were determined to be more upbeat.

“It’s not the be all and end all of it,” said Glenn Whelan. “We were never going to just come along here tonight and win the game and we were conscious of how important it was not to lose the game. We have to pick ourselves up now and try to do better in Moscow but we seem to play better away from home and hopefully that’ll be the case again on Tuesday.

“The mood in the dressing room there is like it’s been a defeat. We feel like we’ve let the fans down but hopefully we can do better for them on Tuesday night.

“We always tend to do things the hard way and we haven’t given up on doing it again. The Russians still have to go to Slovakia to play next month and Trapattoni is a manager with a lot of experience, he’s a man who knows how to get a win and maybe he’ll look to change things a bit to get the result in Moscow.”

Kevin Doyle, who insisted he had been fully fit to play, built on the glass half full theme when he observed that had Ireland won last night they might have settled happily enough for the point next week, where as now they would be more positive in their approach.

There is little getting past the fact, though, that Ireland very rarely win games of the magnitude of Tuesday’s and a draw would appear to be the best that can realistically targeted.

Stephen Ward was understandably determined to be upbeat after a competitive debut in which he made at least two very important interventions.

He was, he said, happy with his own performance but more importantly pleased with the way the Irish back four had collectively held up under the pressure the Slovaks exerted in the first half.

“We were the better side in the second half. The manager told us to keep doing what we were doing but to try to be a little more incisive as we went forward and I think that we did that. Sometimes, you simply have to hold your hands up and accept your draw.”

That much is undoubtedly true but then sometimes teams also have to accept that their best chance of progressing might be through the play-offs and barring an upset next week, the Irish players, it seems, are going to have to start getting used to that idea.