It may not have been a game that will live long in the memories of Irish supporters but the three points picked up by Brian Kerr's side at Lansdowne Road on Saturday have brought the Republic within striking distance of Group 10 leaders Switzerland and from that point of view this was very much a case of mission accomplished.

The result was the key thing and it would have mattered very little if Kerr's new system had worked out wonderfully but the win had eluded the side. Instead, we were left with the impression the new formation requires a good deal of work before the players will look entirely comfortable but whatever the problems involved the team still managed to squeeze out the required outcome, even if it did involve a little help from Adrian Aliaj.

I was surprised at the start to see Kerr was going to go ahead with playing Damien Duff behind the front two because I always imagined it would be at the expense of the sort of width we should have been looking for and the sort of defensive toughness that has long been a hallmark of our game.

For more than a decade the Irish have first and foremost been a very hard side to beat. Teams find us very hard to play through, particularly at Lansdowne Road, and I think Albania found much more space to push the ball into than many other sides previously experienced here.

There were other factors for this other than our formation, of course. It was clear as the second half progressed that a lot of the players were tired and that Duff was beginning to struggle a little but the inability of our midfield to contain the Albanians as they pushed forward appeared, at least in part, to be down to their uncertainty regarding their precise role - and that could have cost us dearly.

If Duff fails to make it for Wednesday's game against Georgia I would presume that Kerr will revert to the 4-4-2 that this group of players can play with their eyes closed. But I don't think, given we did end up winning the game, that the continued experimentation with the new shape has been wasted. The manager is right when he says the greater flexibility our players can achieve the better it is for them and I think he can file away the system on the basis that, with some further work, it can form an important part of their tactical armoury for the future.

The three-man midfield needs work, though, and given the burden put on each man in that area to effectively play the role of one and a third players you need to look at the personnel and ask yourself whether those deployed there on Saturday are best suited to it.

The ability of somebody like Lee Carsley to cover the ground would suggest he might be a strong candidate to be used in there the next time Kerr opts for the system although Matt Holland can usually get around particularly well but he didn't in this game because he simply looked to be a little bit off his best form.

Duff, of course, did well again as did Robbie Keane, but if the team does contain wider men on Wednesday then the Tottenham striker may benefit more from having Gary Doherty beside him from the start.

That would be a little harsh on David Connolly who I felt did quite a few good things at the weekend but Keane is the key figure here in terms of goalscoring potential and Doherty's ability to upset defenders and cause a bit of confusion around the area, as he did after coming on this time, is probably worth more to his clubmate than the rather neater approach of the Wimbledon striker.

In the longer term Stephen Carr and John O'Shea probably have all the attributes required to play at full back without wide men in front of them but again, I didn't think they adjusted quite well enough on this occasion and the Manchester United man, in particular, looked as he could do with the cover that would be offered by having somebody like Kevin Kilbane directly in front of him.

Having said all that, however, while everyone will realise that we could and should have played better on Saturday the fact is we consistently created more than the Albanians and always looked the more likely to score.

Keane had a couple of chances and he was a little unfortunate to come against, in Geri Cipi, a defender whose timing in the tackle was flawless on the day.

This game will have done Keane and everybody else in the panel quite a bit of good, though. They should be sharper on Wednesday when Steven Reid may even be judged to be fit enough to start. Beating the Georgians may not be easy either but this win has kept the whole team moving in the right direction and it would be a huge disappointment now if the team doesn't come further back still into the qualification picture with a fifth win in six outings under their new manager.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)