Morrison very doubtful for Wednesday

The 25-year-old, with seven goals to his name in 24 caps, hobbled off the Atade de France pitch after 40 minutes of last night's 0-0 draw with France.

Replaced by Nottingham Forest winger Andy Reid, Morrison left the stadium on crutches and is a very real doubt for Ireland's final Group 4 fixture of the year.

"I was just standing there and all of a sudden I could hear a pop and a click in my knee and I just went down," said the Birmingham City frontman, after sustaining his injury in aerial combat with Gael Givet.

"I tried to get up and carry on but the pain was relentless and I had to come off. I will have a scan, see how it is and go from there, but it is the medial ligaments in my left knee."

A confident Morrison, with two goals in his last two qualifiers, was a thorn in both Givet and Sebastien Squillaci's side, and flashed a header narrowly wide of Fabien Barthez's right post in the first half.

" I felt on top of my game and from the first minute I could see the defender

(Givet) was not happy, so I thought I was going to get the better of him."

"That's how it goes, but it was still a fantastic result. I thought we could have won it, but we will take the draw at the end of the day," Morrison added.

With Robbie Keane likely to be partnered by either Gary Doherty or Alan Lee, Morrison added: "I'd like to be fit for Wednesday, so fingers crossed and we will see how it goes, but if not then I'm going to try and stay here until Wednesday. I don't want to go back to Birmingham. What for? To be depressed? I want to cheer the boys on."