Nations League B Promotion/Relegation playoff: Bulgaria 1 (Petkov 6) Republic of Ireland 2 (Azaz 21, Doherty 42)
A rare Irish victory on the road. Not much more can be asked of this Republic of Ireland team as first-half goals from Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty should prove enough to avoid relegation to the third tier of the Nations League.
The attitude and execution from the 60th-ranked country in the world delivered an important win over the 82nd, to take back to the Aviva Stadium for Sunday’s second-leg of Uefa’s new playoff system.
The only slight concern was the sight of Bulgarian defender Mikolay Minkov taking a chunk out of Evan Ferguson in injury-time. The 20 year old striker walked off, seemingly unharmed as French referee Benoit Bastien flashed an eighth yellow card of the night.
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That was the priority for Ireland – get out of Plovdiv in one piece and with a respectable result. Job done.
There was method to Heimir Hallgrímsson’s initially mad-looking starting line-up. No Ferguson from the off. No Jake O’Brien either.
No problem. Southampton left back Ryan Manning played in front of Robbie Brady, a winger in his younger years, as the pair communicated and interchanged as much as Azaz and Mikey Johnston dovetailed down the right.
For the most part, Doherty was minding the fort. That is until his country needed him to snap into striker mode.
There was a clear game plan. The intent was to bamboozle Bulgaria with heads up, rapid possession football.
Everything was on track until the home side scored in the sixth minute. It was a familiar tune; Ireland conceded another goal from distance when there appeared to be no danger.
Bulgarian captain Kiril Despodov conjured some magic off the right that allowed Filip Krastev to dribble laterally across the edge of the Irish box before his back-heel invited Marin Petkov to shoot on sight. It hit the butt of Caoimhín Kelleher’s post to give the Liverpool goalkeeper no chance.
That should have made it 1-1 but Manning, who was only called into the squad due to Callum O’Dowda’s injury, had made a weak connection with Azaz’s cross that Dimitar Miltov easily gathered.
At least the occasional Nathan Collins lapses in concentration were not punished as twice Despodov pounced on the Ireland skipper’s errors only to shoot straight at Kelleher.
The usual worrying signs were visible. Ireland’s luck held.
When Azaz sprayed another cross to the back post for Manning, the defender headed high and wide, which made it even more puzzling to see him operating as a quasi-attacker. It was still the 28 year old’s best showing in a green shirt.
Ireland’s shaky start was forgotten by the interval as Doherty inspired an equaliser before nodding his third international goal past Miltov to make it 2-1.
When Mikey Johnston was fouled, as punishment for nutmegging Ilia Gruev, Doherty immediately hit a 40 yard ball wide left for Brady who sent an arcing delivery to the back post where Troy Parrott’s neat assist was headed into an empty net by Azaz.
It was clinical, technically-sound football from Ireland.
Parrott should have scored himself moments later, but he pulled another snappy Johnston free-kick just wide. He netted a similar chance at training the day before.
No matter. Ireland took the lead three minutes before half-time when Josh Cullen rewarded Doherty’s diagonal run into the box with a clever lob. Cullen has been accused of being overly cautious with his passing. Not in Plovdiv.
To make matters worse for the hosts, Miltov pulled his groin as he rushed out to almost deny Doherty and needed to be replaced by Plamen Iliev who Bulgaria manager Ilian Iliev trusts every week in his second job as manager of Cherno More.
The travelling fans, who almost numbered as many as the Bulgarian crowd, found their voice as Ireland made it to the hour mark without shooting themselves in the foot. That alone was a significant improvement on recent performances.
Hallgrímsson’s selection and tactics were working. What’s more, the Icelander held several impact players for the last 20 minutes.
Ferguson relieved Parrot while Steven Sykes and Jack Taylor came in for Johnston and Azaz before Jake O’Brien replaced Manning and Rocco Vata was given his debut for Jason Knight. All five fresh legs were needed as Ireland understandably wilted after a hard-working shift from every single starter.
The FAI should be able to shift a few more tickets for Sunday night in Dublin off the back of this display.
Bulgaria: Mitov (Iliev 46); Nedyalkov, Atanasov, S Petkov, Nuernberger (Minkov 72); Despodov, Krastev (I Iliev 86), Gruev, L Petkov (B Kraev 72); A Kraev (Nikolov 86), M Petkov.
Ireland: Kelleher; Doherty, Collins, O’Shea, Brady; Cullen, Knight (Vata 79); Johnston (Taylor 76), Azaz (Sykes 76), Manning (O’Brien 79); Parrott (Ferguson 76).
Referee: Benoît Bastien (France).
