ADAM IDAH defended the Irish team and insisted they could still qualify after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan this evening.
The striker, who earned the man-of-the-match award, admitted however that the performance was “disappointing” following Wednesday’s encouraging display in Portugal.
“It is frustrating. Not getting three points is quite disappointing. Obviously, from having no points on the board, we got a point, which is good. We just have to keep fighting and improving in the next couple of games.
“We all play football, that’s our job, we regroup. Especially in the second half, we had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. It is frustrating when that’s not happening.
“We know we need to win games and that’s what we want to do. It is quite a new squad. There are a lot of young players here and it does take time to build.
“We drew tonight. Obviously, we wanted to win. There are still a lot of games to come and we’ll try to prove people wrong.”
Idah still has yet to score at international level and the Norwich youngster admitted he was disappointed not to break his goal duck this evening.
“My job is to score goals and I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t put them to bed. I need to work on that. I haven’t scored for Ireland yet and that’s all I want to do — get off the mark. Unfortunately, I didn’t score tonight but I’ll keep working harder and hopefully, they’ll come soon. I’m confident as a striker. I just have to keep improving and we’ll see how it goes.”
He continued: “It’s quite frustrating where we are now but we’re still building as a team, still learning. We just have to take each game as it comes, no one knows what can happen in football. We have to do the best we can and get as much points as we can.
“We 100% believe we can still qualify for this, that’s our main target, to qualify and we’re going to battle until the end.”
On a more positive note, the youngster said he was glad to see the return of fans at the Aviva.
“It was an unbelievable experience. I had goosebumps — my family came down and they were right in front of me.
“I was very honoured to be there and it is great to have the fans back. It was great to have everyone back and it really helped us to get that goal. They pushed us on and I was delighted to have them there.”
