GEORGIA MADE sure their torturous journey to Wales yielded far more than political reward. Jason Koumas's 10th international goal had promised a home victory but Levan Kenia's equaliser followed by Beka Gotsiridze's winner was no more than a feisty Georgia side deserved.

It had come as no surprise that the Georgian national anthem provided a poignant moment. Wearing black armbands, Georgia's players linked hands and held their arms aloft as a mark of respect to those at home.

It was a gesture not lost on those inside Swansea's stadium, many of whom could not have imagined that this game would go ahead a week ago. The determination of the 18 players that travelled from Georgia last Friday had been underestimated.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Georgia goalkeeper's ability.

Having started brightly and troubled Wales with their three-prong attack in the early skirmishes, Georgia found themselves behind after 16 minutes. There appeared little danger when Koumas drilled a 25-yard shot down the throat of Giorgia Loria but, inexplicably, the goalkeeper allowed the ball to slip from his hands and over the goal-line.

Georgia, the Republic of Ireland's first opponents in their World Cup qualifying campaign on September 6th, improved after the interval and with that in mind, there was a sense of inevitability about the visitors equaliser, which arrived midway through the second half. Rati Aleksidze was the provider, piloting a pass that exposed the defence and encouraged Kenia to advance before slotting calmly past Myhill to bring parity before Gotsiridze scored.

Italy, also in Ireland's group for the World Cup campaign, had a bizarre own goal by Austria's debutant goalkeeper Ramazan Ozcan to thank for a 2-2 draw in Marcello Lippi's first game back in charge since their 2006 World Cup triumph.

Ozcan, a half-time substitute, punched Gianluca Zambrotta's cross into the net midway through the second half to take the gloss off former Czech Republic boss Karel Brueckner's opening match as Austria coach.

Emanuel Pogatetz and Marc Janko put Austria 2-0 up in the first half before striker Alberto Gilardino pulled one back on halftime.