LAST NIGHT BROUGHT not only a dream victory for Ireland, but also a pretty impressive first competitive outing in a green jersey for Harry Arter.
Arter worked his socks off from box-to-box and put in a typical battling performance for his side, leaving Jon Walters full of praise for the Bournemouth player.
“Harry is a very good player. He’s shown that for the last couple of years with Bournemouth. He‘s comfortable on the ball and gets stuck in,” Walters said after the game.
“He has a big future ahead of him.”
Not only was the striker pleased with Arter’s performance, he commended the hard work his teammates put in all over the pitch.
“Everyone on the pitch worked hard for each other. We had a bit of luck along the way.
“It [McClean's goal] set us up, once we had the lead we were always going to work hard for each other in our shape. The midfielders and centre-backs worked really hard, as did the wide players like Jeff [Hendrick].”
Before the game, any Irish supporter, and most players, would have happily settled for a draw, but Walters insists this wasn’t the case for Martin O’Neill and his game plan.
“You always set out to win the game. That’s the aim.
“It was scoreless at half-time and we’d probably have been happy with a draw here, but we believed in ourselves.
“We set ourselves up, having a lot of men behind the ball and sometimes it was difficult being on my own up front. But, once we went ahead, it was great play by the boys.”
With three points under their belt heading into the break, Walters is hoping that his side can put last night’s famous win in Vienna behind them and refocus for the remainder of the qualiying campaign.
“To come to a difficult place like this and win is great. They’re a very good team and we’ll take the three points all day. It’s always nice going into the break with a win.
“We’ve started the campaign really well but we’ve got some huge games coming up in March and next summer.
“It’s a win, we’re happy with where we are but there’s a long way to go.”
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