|
Although Ireland didn’t end their World Cup qualification preparation with a victory, it was a very useful exercise for manager Brian Kerr.
During the course of the 90 minutes, 17 players were used with Jonathan Macken making his debut, Paddy Kenny, Alan Quinn, Andy Reid and Liam Miller getting more valuable time on the pitch while Stephen Carr, Damien Duff and Gary Breen all made their returns to international football after brief absences which all bodes well ahead of the opening World Cup clash with Cyprus in two weeks time.
On top of that, Reid grabbing his first goal, albeit a slightly fortunate strike, will give the Nottingham Forest star plenty of confidence while a number of a number of other players gave morale boosting performances.
On the downside, Ireland were unable to kill Bulgaria off when they had the chance while, on several occasions, sloppy passes in midfield meant that Kenny Cunningham’s defence were working a lot harder than they would have liked.
However, Shay Given or his replacement Paddy Kenny were rarely threatened in the Ireland goal showing just how well Ireland coped with their visitors.
Bulgaria, playing their first ever match under Hristo Stoitchkov, were out the blocks like an Olympic sprinter and should have taken the lead after just 45 seconds.
Reid lost possession to Radostin Kishishev in midfield and he immediately picked out striker Dimitar Berbatov who had broken the Irish offside trap. The Bayer Levkusen man strode purposefully before goal, drew Shay Given off his line, only to fire his shot wide of Given’s far post.
In the opening stages, Ireland struggled to find any sort of rhythm giving Bulgaria plenty of space in midfield though gradually, though hard work from Liam Miller, Roy Keane, Kevin Kilbane and Reid, the home side began to take control.
Once in command, the chances starting coming almost immediately with Ireland realising quickly that any crosses into the box were going to cause the visitors trouble.
In the seventh minute, Damien Duff teased open the Bulgarians’ on the right wing before whipping over a cross for Kilbane who headed back across goal for Clinton Morrison who couldn’t get enough power on his header to beat goalkeeper Zdravko Zdravkov.
Morrison was again in the thick of the action in the 12th minute when John O’Shea’s through ball almost put him through though while one minute later, centre half Rossen Kirilov almost beat his own goalkeeper with a diving header from Reid’s left wing cross.
However, Ireland only had to wait a further two minutes for the opening goal.
It had some amount of good fortune about it as Reid swung in a free kick from 35 yards. Morrison and Gary Doherty both ran in hoping to get a touch on it but their movements were enough to take goalkeeper Zdravko Zdravkov’s eye off the ball as it bounced into the far corner of the net.
Ireland continued to dominate and Zdravkov made up for his error in some way three minutes later with a fine save from Kilbane’s powerful 25-yard drive after Morrison had chested a Kenny Cunningham long ball into his path while Gary Doherty headed a Liam Miller corner just inches over the bar.
However, with the score so evenly-balanced, Ireland couldn’t afford any lapses in concentration at the back and Given proved that he wasn’t in danger of slipping up in the 36th minute when he safely gathered a rather powerful back pass by John O’Shea from a dangerous free kick by Zdravko Lazarov.
With the defence rarely troubled, Ireland were free to commit bodies forward and Kilbane glanced a header inches wide from a Duff corner in the 38th minute while Reid almost added a second just before half time with a powerful shot from the left that hit the side-netting.
Ireland started the second half in the same fashion though the sloppy passes in midfield continued to keep the home defence on their toes with Given needing to save a long range Georgi Markov effort early on.
But when Ireland were passing it well in midfield, they continued to cause Bulgaria problems with Morrison twice almost getting on the end of dangerous Reid crosses early in the half.
And the Birmingham City striker was only inches away from grabbing his sixth international goal in the 63rd minute when a brilliant interchange between Finnan and Carr down the right resulted in Carr beating Ilian Stoyanov before cutting the ball back just a fraction too fast for Morrison with Kilbane firing the loose ball just over from 20 yards.
However, Bulgaria could never be discounted and Valeri Bozhinov should have at least hit the target in the 65th minute when a pass from Hristo Yanev found him unmarked on the edge of the area.
One minute later, Yanev forced Given to turn his thunderbolt away for a corner and the visitors only had to wait until the 70th minute to find the equaliser.
Bozhinov proved that he had found his range following his earlier miss as he crashed a brilliant left-foot drive into the top corner from just inside the box after Vladimir Manchev had out jumped Gary Breen for a high cross.
Ireland went close to an immediate response when substitute Alan Quinn flashed over from just outside after Macken had chested a long ball into his path.
They continued to push forward looking to grab the winning goal on the night with Damien Duff seeing a deflecting shot hit the side-netting while Quinn tested substitute goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov with a left-foot drive.
But Ireland couldn’t find the winner they endeavoured for and were forced to settle for the draw.
Teams:
Republic of Ireland: Given (Newcastle United); Finnan (Liverpool), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O’Shea (Manchester United); Miller (Manchester United), Keane (Manchester United), Kilbane (Everton), Reid (Nottingham Forest); Duff (Chelsea), Morrison (Birmingham City).
Subs: Breen (Sunderland) for Doherty (half time), Carr (Newcastle United) for Miller (52 mins), Kavanagh (Cardiff City) for Keane, Macken (Manchester City) for Morrison (63 mins), Quinn (Sheffield United) for Finnan, Kenny (Sheffield United) for Given (both 71 mins).
Bulgaria: Zdravkov; Kishishev, Kirilov, Markov, Stoyanov; Bozhinov, Yankov, Petrov, Hristov, Lazarov; Berbatov.
Subs: Ivankov for Zdravkov, Yanev for Hristov, Gargorov for Berbatov (all half time), Manchev for Lazarov (56 mins), Topuzakov for Stoyanov (64 mins), Kamburov for Yankov (76 mins).
Referee: I Brines (Scotland).