Keane aims end away goal drought

Robbie Keane may be a Republic of Ireland record-breaker but he still has one rare failing in front of goal to address as his side head into tomorrow's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier in Slovakia.

Republic captain Keane stretched his country's goalscoring record to 31 with a double in the friendly win in Denmark last month — but he has not scored in a competitive away match for seven years.

Keane professed ignorance of that statistic when told of it in a press conference in Bratislava today. But he said the goalscoring ability of the whole squad would be vital in such important games.

Keane said: "The strikers aren't going to score in every game so it's important for the other players to pitch in. We've got more players scoring from midfield now, so we've certainly got the squad to do it."

An equally unfavourable record is the one which says that the Republic have not won a meaningful away qualifying match since they triumphed in Scotland 20 years ago.

But Keane believes the recent win in Aarhus will give his team confidence to shatter that mark. They need to pick up at least four Group D points in Bratislava and Wednesday's clash with Czech Republic in Prague.

Keane added: "It's something we want to change. In Denmark we changed it with a great result and we want to carry that on into tomorrow's game. There's no reason why we can't do that.

"We don't want to sit back and invite teams onto us. With the players we have we want to go out and play some football. We'll certainly not be going out to get a draw — we're going out to win."

The 27-year-old Keane believes one of the reasons for the cautious optimism around the Irish camp these days comes from the emergence of a number of the younger players in the squad.

While the best most of the relative new boys can hope for against the Slovaks is a place on the bench, Keane is anxious to stress their importance in terms of providing competition.

"Training has been really buoyant and sharp," Keane added. "The last game was a great result for us and that always gives you confidence when you meet up with the squad.

"This week you can see that in training in the performance of certain players. Certainly the young players who played in that game like Darron Gibson have grown, and this week he's been brilliant."