Group 4: Republic of Ireland v Cyprus: Well, a perfect weekend really. A good professional performance and a result against Cyprus, good goals, France held to a draw by Israel and the boy Roy is back for Wednesday. As weekends go, Brian Kerr couldn't have asked for more.

Cyprus were poor, to say the least, but there always seems to be more pressure on you for your first game in any qualification group. The build-up has been so long; it's like your first game of the season. So no matter who the opponents are those first games can be tricky. And when you play teams like Cyprus you just have to go about it in a professional manner. I said before the game we needed to play intelligently - and we did just that.

Of course more goals would have been nice, but if you'd asked Brian Kerr at a minute to three "Would you take three-nil?" he'd have snapped your hand off.

Yes, under the circumstances, it could have been five. That would have been Utopia, but just look around Europe - France 0-0; England throwing away a two-goal lead against Austria. So you happily take 3-0.

Andy Reid, once again, stood out. He's one of those players you just know is ready and you know he's ready to play in the Premiership as well; he has all the "must have" qualities. He doesn't give the ball away and his passing is perceptive. He's a bit like Damien Duff; he can drop his shoulder and just go past people, buy himself a bit of space and give himself time to pass.

He's like all good players: he makes it look easy and makes it look like he has time. He scored a wonder goal too but his all-round play was just excellent. He reminds me in a way, on the ball, of Ray Houghton in his awareness of people's movement and his ability to play the ball where they want it, not where he wants to play it.

Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh were our "dogs of war". They gave Kerr exactly what he wanted. Ask Reid and Duff about their appreciation of those two. They did the horrible work and let Reid and Duff get on with the business of creating chances.

It's tough for Kavanagh. He plays in a team in the middle of the first division, so there's always going to be a bit of an inferiority complex because you know people will say: "He only plays for Cardiff - what can he do for us?" He'll be conscious of that. In those circumstances it's hard to convince yourself you're as good as the fellows around you. But he did well.

Duff just needs games now; he needs that little bit of zip that takes him away from people, and the only way he'll get that zip is by playing games. When he has a few more under his belt we'll get five or six of those moments every game, like the one where he won the penalty.

It was good to see Clinton Morrison scoring. That should help his confidence. He missed a few chances too but what you've got to do with him is be very, very positive. If there's any kind of negative response or reaction to him you can see it in him; he slumps.

Sometimes you just have to put your arm around fellas like Morrison and build them up, and I'm sure that's what Brian Kerr does. If it gets you an end product, as it did on Saturday, then you do it.

I witnessed it at Newcastle with Kevin Keegan. Every day with David Ginola was like a love-in. It was great the way he dealt with him because he got an unbelievable reward for six months. It's just what managers have to do, keep telling a fella he's a great player . . . even if you don't think he is.

Morrison's biggest problem, I think, is he's a snatcher of chances. When you see him over the ball about to strike it you're never filled with confidence that he'll score. Even when he's on a good run I'm never too confident about him but I think Kerr will probably keep him in. To be honest, if you left him out you'd knock him down a peg, which is the last thing he needs and we need at the moment.

An excellent result. Look at France. We will get results like that over the course of these games. You will slip up, but you don't half give yourself a good chance of qualification if you win your home games. We'll go to Basel in a completely different state of mind to the last time and in terms of performance you just know it's going to be far better.

Let's just make sure now that we're unbeaten after two games. If we got a win there, well, everyone else would have to catch up. A perfect start.