JIM CRAWFORD COULDN’T mask his frustration as Ireland’s hopes of staying involved in the Euro 2027 playoff race suffered another devastating setback.

The U21s were held 1-1 at home by Moldova at Tallaght Stadium, and the draw leaves the Boys in Green five points adrift of the playoff spot with four games to go.

“I’m disappointed,” said Crawford, who saw his team come from behind in the first half through Jamie Mullins, but then fall short in the final third for the remainder.

“If you’ve any ambitions of getting into a play-off in this tournament, you’ve got to win these home games.”

Crawford and his players were determined to hit the ground running at Tallaght Stadium as they had targeted six points from six in this window.

They were under pressure to deliver after suffering a humiliating 4-0 drubbing away to lowly Andorra in their previous game, back in November.

But hopes of clawing their way back into the playoff picture have been torpedoed after this share of the points, ahead of Friday’s trip to Kazakhstan for the next game on Tuesday.

Crawford said: “I’m disappointed. There’s no two ways about it. Just disappointed. We gifted them a goal, and we never started the game properly.

“There were a lot of unforced errors and poor decision-making. But, in fairness to the boys, they took themselves out of that, and we gained control for most of the game.

“We looked a little open on the turnovers, which can happen when you commit a lot of bodies forward, but I’m disappointed that for all the possession we had, we didn’t create enough scoring chances.”

But Crawford continued: “It’s a learning point for the players, and we’ve spoken about that.

“In our last game, against Andorra, we controlled large parts of the game but conceded goals too easily, and today it was the very same thing — we gifted them a goal.

“When you’re playing against teams like Moldova, they’ll drop off deep, they’ll rely on set plays to score, they’ll rely on counter-attacks, and we gave them a goal.

“Now we’re 1-0 down against a team who have confidence, and they’ve got something to hold on to. It was a challenge for us.”

Ireland play Kazakhstan on Tuesday, travel to Slovakia in September, before hosting Kazakhstan a few days later and then wrap up the campaign away to England in October.

Of the playoff race, Crawford added: “It’s going to be very difficult now, but it’s character time, isn’t it?

“We’ve gone with a young squad, and there are 10 players who can go again for the next campaign, so this is one of those moments you’ve got to learn from. You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”