SOCCER ANALYST:WE HAVE had our slip up in this qualification campaign. If there is another we are gone. From the context of the whole week, this was a point well earned and while the Slovaks may have dominated the second-half the Irish players will be disappointed not to win the game as the two best chances of the night fell to Robbie Keane.

We have also learned a lot about the pecking order in this group.

Russia completed an excellent recovery (I don’t know how they lost to Slovakia in the first place) by winning in Dublin and then away to Macedonia last night. They now look back on course to qualify automatically.

They are certainly the best team.

Whether we can go to Macedonia next June and get three points seems a tall order but it will be essential if we are to make it into the play-offs, never mind keeping the pressure on Russia.

That game seems an awfully long way off. The players return to their clubs and even by the home match against Macedonia in March we could have a radically different team available due to the wear and tear of the domestic season.

In a perfect world Damien Duff and Stephen Hunt would be available to come straight back in but I firmly believe room should be made for Keith Fahey – ideally in central midfield alongside Glenn Whelan or Keith Andrews.

There are positives to be taken away. For starters, the necessary reaction to the Russian defeat was apparent.

We witnessed a vast improvement in tempo and pressing of the ball when not in possession in the opening half an hour.

Some decent ball retention was also evident in the first half. This had a lot to do with the change in personnel.

Fahey is a wide player who is equally comfortable in the middle. He will see the pass or, if things are not on, he will come back out and start again. Out and out wingers tend to force the issue and lose possession when they cannot see a clear-cut scoring chance.

With John O’Shea behind Keith they were an instant threat. O’Shea plays neat football every week for Manchester United so he knows how to keep the ball and supply the right man along the ground. It is instinctive. That is not the case with all our players.

Fahey has grabbed his opportunity. The delivery of his free kick for the opening goal was quality. The pace of the ball always meant a shaky defence would be in trouble.

Unfortunately, the same can be said of how matters were operating down the other end. Considering Trapattoni built his team around solidity off set pieces in the last campaign, it is hard to understand how they have regressed so much.

Glenn Whelan simply lost his man at the back post for their equaliser.

The defensive leaders must sort this out. Shay Given and Richard Dunne will be tasked with ensuring the organisation is right. Two hugely costly goals have now been conceded off set pieces in the past four days.

We totally dominated the game until they equalised. We should have been in front half-time – be it 1-0 or 2-1.

Our centre-backs had regained their composure while the full-backs were getting on the ball and sending decent passes up field.

Clearly, the manager had decided to abandon the slavery to the long ball. It helped that the opposition was nowhere near the Russian standard.

The loss of Paul Green to injury meant Ireland had two of the best passers in the squad on the field for the second half. Fahey and Darron Gibson should mean retention of possession is guaranteed but the only fear was Keane’s penalty miss would give the Slovaks a huge lift.

It did.

They seemed, initially at least, to be suffering a far worse crisis of confidence from the defeat to Armenia than what we were going through from the Russian experience at the Aviva Stadium.

We put an awful lot into beating them in the first-half. In contrast, perhaps buoyed by the home crowd and whatever their manager said to them at the interval, they relaxed in possession before really coming at us.

We were left to live off the occasional scraps that came Aiden McGeady’s way. He did take the pressure off the defence with his counter-attacking raids but his pace only gets him so far with very little support.

When several Irish players got forward on the counter, McGeady found Gibson but he stalled too long over his shot, which was blocked.

Keane, the captain, had no influence in the second-half except the chance that fell his way late on.

After an encouraging opening 45 minutes, Fahey went off injured. But not before he forced Trapattoni to reassess his best starting 11.

We have genuine options outside the regulars. That means we can improve.

That is something to take from just one point out of a possible six.