JAMES MCCLEAN ADMITS that Ireland did not deserve to come away with a victory from their World Cup qualifier against Georgia this evening.
Despite getting off to an encouraging start through Shane Duffy’s goal, Ireland failed to build on their advantage in Tbilisi, and they were punished on 34 minutes when Valeri Qazaishvili leveled the tie.
The result leaves Ireland in second place in Group D, with crucial game against Serbia coming up on Tuesday.
McClean knows the importance of getting a better result in that clash, and he made no excuses for Ireland’s poor display tonight.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, a frustrated McClean said: ”No, we’re not happy. If I’m honest, we didn’t deserve to win the game. We scored early on, and rather than go for the jugular, we just kind of sat back and protected the lead. We got flat.
I don’t know what it was, they were by far the better side. We were better in the second half but they’re as tough as they come.
“We are disappointed, we wanted three points and we got one.
He added: “We were by no means at our best and if anything, it simplifies the job we have on Tuesday night. We need to win.”
“Maybe it was mentality, maybe they were just better than us on the night. I know we scored early enough. We’re bitterly disappointed but we can’t beat ourselves up too much, we still have a job to do.”
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