VLADISLAV KREIDA WAITED until 20 minutes or so after full-time on Friday to show his soft side.
The Estonia international, who played a crucial role in the St Patrick’s Athletic equaliser on his competitive debut, appeared from the home dressing on his phone as he tried to locate his girlfriend, Isabelle.
The business student travelled to spend a week in Dublin before returning to college in Tallinn.
“If I get called up to the national team in March we will be able to meet again there,” Kreida explained, his country’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign beginning with an away game in Austria.
“I hope that we can but I cannot be sure, if the coach wants me I will always be ready.”
The 23-year-old is one of four Estonian stars in the League of Ireland this season and he showed the kind of diligence and quality in the centre of the park that will quickly make him a fans’ favourite at Richmond Park.
Operating predominantly alongside Jamie Lennon, with the latter given more responsibility to protect the back three, which also switched to a four in the second half, Kreida showed a range of passing which offered Tim Clancy’s side security as well as penetration, although as the season progresses they will look to create more chances from open play than they managed against a resolute Derry City.
One precise diagonal ball which cut out their midfield and allowed right wing back Sam Curtis attack stood out, and when Jake Mulraney gets up to speed with match fitness and becomes a fixture on the left side there is the potential for serious joy on that flank.
“It’s important. You see everything around you,” Kreida explains of his role. “From the midfield, you just try to switch the play, dictate the game, win the tackles in the middle, try to dominate in the middle. Nothing special but it’s hard work what we need to do.
I know. I spoke with the coach a few times, he said to me how he saw me in his team. Step by step I’m more in line with the team. I feel good.”
Kreida was also alert to the danger when Derry broke for the first goal of the game, and while he was unable to prevent Jordan McEneff advancing into the penalty box, despite showing a turn of speed to catch up with the Candystripes midfielder, he also performed with a tenacity that matched his technical ability.
Rather than being just neat and tidy, with his socks only halfway up his shins, Kreida put in the miles too. He might not have the same dynamism as one of his predecessors, Adam O’Reilly, but there is more than enough in the tank.
“In the last minutes I had cramps in the calves. In the legs. The fans help. It was sold out,” he said of the 4,789 crowd in Inchicore.
“The atmosphere was good. I just had to keep pushing. The level was very good, I would like to play those games every week and I think that I can improve my game as well. I enjoy the football how we play, against a good team too it’s enjoyable.
“Sometimes even World Cup players get cramps, that’s how it is sometimes,” he added with a smile.
That admission made his delivery from the corner for Joe Redmond’s equaliser all the more impressive. “There was a lot of pressure and he puts it on the money,” Clancy beamed, although Kreida attempted to downplay it.
“To be honest, I don’t think about this. I just concentrate on making a good delivery for the boys. It was decent. We can say an acceptable result. We’re not happy, of course, how the games go. One point is OK.”
The result, and the manner of it, should give Pat’s added confidence when Shelbourne arrive on the south side for a Dublin derby next Friday.
That will be a fixture with a sharper edge if last season is anything to go by, the next challenge for Kreida to meet head on.