- Ben Blake reports from Copenhagen
IRELAND PRODUCED A disciplined defensive display in Copenhagen last night to keep their hopes of reaching the 2018 World Cup alive.
Admittedly, the Danes spurned a couple of gilt-edged chances in both halves but resolute performances from goalkeeper Darren Randolph and the back four secured a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen.
Shane Duffy has grown in stature over the most recent qualifying campaign and, speaking after the final whistle, the Derry-born centre-half says he believes the Boys in Green can keep their play-off opponents at bay again on Tuesday.
“It was a difficult night, it wasn’t pretty,” the big centre-half said. “The job was to come here and not concede. We got a clean sheet out of it and that’s a positive. It’s on to Tuesday now.
“If we can keep them out on their home patch, we can do it on our home patch. They will probably fancy their chances of scoring a goal but I’m confident. We don’t concede many goals and hopefully we don’t concede on Tuesday.
We can be a bit better on the ball, it wasn’t a night to take risks and it wasn’t pretty, the pitch wasn’t great. No excuses though, we weren’t great on the ball.
“It was still a great performance defensively from the whole team. Darren [Randolph] made a couple of great saves and that’s it, really. They didn’t have much really.”
The Brighton defender also insists fans will see a much-improved Ireland in the home leg — despite the fact that they have earned their best results on the road in recent years.
“We’ll be a different team at the Aviva and we will create a lot more,” he added. “It wasn’t a night here to do anything stupid. You could see their technical players struggled. It wasn’t pretty but we got a result and it’s a cup final on Tuesday. One game, one win and we’re at the World Cup so let’s go for it.”
There were no yellow cards dished out at Parken Stadium, so Martin O’Neill will have a full squad to choose from as long as there were no injuries picked up.
“When I saw James [McClean] and Harry [Arter] flying about I was wondering,” Duffy said of the suspension fears. “But it can’t play on your mind. You can’t let it. I was ready to put my body wherever I had to.
“No one got booked so happy days. I can’t wait now to get back to the Aviva and have the place rocking. Bring it on.”
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