O’Neill suffers first defeat as Ireland fail to close out Serbia

Republic of Ireland 1 (Long 8)
Serbia 2 (McCarthy 48 (og), Djordjevic 60)

The Scots and Poles are sure to watch the tapes of this one with interest. Both managers are likely to be impressed by the Republic of Ireland's first-half performance but, as they prepare for competitive games in the autumn, they are bound to take heart from the fact that, even under new management, this remains a side that finds it desperately hard to close a deal.

His predecessor saw it happen often enough but Martin O’Neill must have wondered how the initiative his men had seized in the first half last night was surrendered so easily in the second.

For 45 minutes they worked hard, broke quickly, kept the ball well – even when playing at a higher tempo than they have generally been accustomed to – and overall looked the better side. However, after the break they were comprehensively outplayed.

It may come as some consolation to O'Neill that his side had a goal disallowed that should have stood after two minutes while one of Serbia's too had a hint of offside about it. O'Neill, though, might be more anxious to play the extra games that have been mentioned for early June now because he will certainly have a sense after this of the work that needs to be done. He might be more anxious to keep Robbie Keane about the place too.

Lot of positives
It's a pity because there were a lot of positives in the first half but the team was almost unrecognisable after the break even before he started making changes that included a switch to a two-man strike force of Daryl Murphy and Jon Walters, with goalscorer Shane Long one of those to make way.

Barely 90 seconds in, Serbia stood off James McClean as he powered down the left and then failed to pick up Glenn Whelan at the far post where the Irish skipper had an age to line up a volley. That was clearly goal-bound so it’s not clear why Wes Hoolahan decided to take a final touch just short of the line – simply instinct most likely – but it was a let-off, with the Dubliner ruled, wrongly as it turned out, offside.

Hoolahan didn’t complain suggesting he hadn’t known that Dusan Basta had carelessly played him on after chasing back in a failed attempt to prevent the cross but the rest of Serbs anxiously appealed as Dusan, with a slightly guilty look about him, wandered, unnoticed, straight back upfield.

It should have been a wake-up call but worse, far worse, was to follow five minutes later. Milan Bisevac’s lofted ball down the right was innocuous enough as was, after Stephen Ward had got an initial header, Marc Wilson’s return back over the Serb centre-half and into space. Long set off in pursuit with Bisevac clearly obstructing him to buy time for Branislav Ivanovic to tidy up.

With all the time in the world, the Chelsea defender made an utter mess of things, hitting a looping back pass in the general direction of his goalkeeper. Both defenders stopped and stared then as Long stole in and finished well.

It was a good start to what seemed set to be a decent night for the Hull City striker but it turned out to be the highlight. Though his movement and work-rate were good, he really should have converted a more straightforward chance that came his way just past the half-hour mark, and there was a miss in the second half too that will haunt him for a while.


Both chances
Hoolahan created both chances; breaking at great pace after winning the ball in his own area after a corner before releasing Long with a terrific ball that sent him through one on one with the goalkeeper. The pair linked up nicely for the latter opportunity and the striker looked to have done the right thing in shooting first time but hitting the target had seemed the easy bit.

At the other end, though, there were chances for the Serbs too and David Forde was called on to make a couple of good saves; the best of them from Dusan Tadic who thought he had caught the goalkeeper off his line after Stephen Ward, not for the first time, had landed himself in trouble while trying to tidy up in his own area.

The goalkeeper was helpless, however, when the visitors equalised three minutes after the break with Aleksander Kolarov carving through the Irish defence with a surging run from the left before, amid appeals for offside as he took a return pass, trying to play a final square ball for Filip Dordevic which was cut out, to unfortunate effect, by the retreating James McCarthy.

Dordevic, in any case, got his name on the score sheet not long after with Séamus Coleman living dangerously while under pressure and paying the price when he lost the ball outside his own area. The Serbs pounced and a quick passing move ended with substitute Zoran Tosic slipping the ball to the 26-year-old striker to tap home.

The sudden sense of deflation around the stands was palpable, but what was more surprising was the players seemed to suffer from it too and despite a flurry of substitutions, the Irish were completely incapable of regaining the upper hand as Serbia tightened their grip for the remainder of the game.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Forde; Coleman, Keogh, Wilson, Ward (Clark 63 mins); McCarthy (Meyler 63 mins), Whelan (capt) (Quinn 80 mins); McGeady (Daryl Murphy 72 mins), Hoolahan (Pilkington 64 mins), McClean, Long (Walters 72 mins). Subs not used: Randolph, Brian Murphy, Green, O'Shea, Pearce, Stokes, Kelly, Cox. Booked: Hoolahan.

SERBIA: Stojkovic; Rukavina (Gudelj 89 mins), Kolarov, Ivanovic, Bisevac; Matic, Fejsa; Basta (Tosic 59 mins),Tadic (Ljajic 80 mins), Markovic (Sulejmani 75 mins); Djordjevic (Scepovic 86 mins). Subs not used: Brkic, Krsticic, Petrovic, Tomovic. Booked: Ivanovic, Matic.

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).

Attendance: 30,000