Evan Ferguson walked into the Aviva Stadium press conference room and sat down.
No fanfare. No media handler. Turned out the 20-year-old was sent down the wrong corridor en-route to the mixed zone.
Unbothered by an auditorium of reporters, he adopted his usual matter-of-fact response to every question.
Scoring goals is his “job,” after all, so to score the goal that saw off Bulgaria and helped retain Ireland’s status in the second tier of the Nations League was exactly what he intended to do.
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“The past year, I’ve learned to deal with frustration,” said Ferguson. “Wipe it out of your head and move on.
“There has been ups and downs so you learn to live with it and move on. That is just how football is.”
“It’s always good to score. It’s my job now.”
He returns now to West Ham, hoping to finally get a start in Graham Potter’s team against Matt Doherty’s Wolverhampton Wanderers when the Premier League resumes on April 1st.
Frustrating few months in London? “Yeah of course, everyone wants to play and when you don’t it is frustrating so when you have your chance you have to take the minutes as you get them.”
“Two wins from two,” he continued, sounding like an old pro. “I think we were the better side in both games. No disrespect to Bulgaria but I think we have the better players and played the better football.
“I think it [showed] resolve [to come from behind]. We are coming together as one. The more we play, we got a young squad with players coming through − the more room we get it will [start] to click.”
Next up, Ireland play summer friendlies at home to Senegal and in Luxembourg before the World Cup qualification campaign begins against Hungary in Dublin on September 6th. Portugal were confirmed last night as top seeds in the group after beating Denmark 5-2 in Lisbon.
Ferguson seemed unbothered by the expectation placed upon him by people outside his professional circle.
“There is nothing really I can do about it, it is other people having that expectation of you and you have that expectation of yourself that you want to do well every time you play football. But you can’t control what other people think or do.
“I have had more bad than good in recent times but I have got used to it, [I] don’t really care what is being said.”
Meanwhile, in the actual mixed zone, Adam Idah explained his finger to the lips celebration after scoring the second Ireland goal as a response to online commentary rather than disappointment with Heimir Hallgrímsson for not starting either game against Bulgaria.
“I saw a lot of stuff online, so it was just telling people to shut-up, really,” said Idah. ”Obviously I was frustrated with the first game, but I came on today and did what I’ve been doing all season [at Celtic], so it was just to the people who were doubting me.
“To be fair it wasn’t a tough [conversation with Hallgrímsson]. I knew what I wanted to say and it was pretty easy for me to go in. I’ve had a good season, I’ve scored lots of goals, so it wasn’t that hard for me to go in and say it to him.
“He is a man himself, he understood me and he knew what I was talking about, and it wasn’t anything bad. He agreed with what I said, I agreed with some bits of what he said. He said to me, you just have to show yourself. He gave me the minutes today and I did that.
“You have to be brave and be confident and that’s what I showed tonight.”
