Daryl Murphy’s late header earned the Republic of Ireland a fortunate 2-2 draw against a youthful Serbia side at the Marakana in Belgrade.
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Republic of Ireland’s (L – R) Seamus Coleman, Robbie Brady and James McClean after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying, Group D match at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, Belgrade.
The Irish sparked back into life after those reverses and Murphy drew them level 10 minutes from time, meeting Robbie Brady’s corner with a powerful header.
With Ireland struggling to maintain possession as the first half advanced, Serbia grew into the game and forced a low save from Darren Randolph on 22 minutes after Filip Kostic attempted a shot across the Ireland keeper from range.
What did you think of Murphy’s performance against Serbia? His cross was palmed away by Darren Randolph and almost fell to Mitrovic, but John O’Shea and Coleman managed to scramble it away before reaching the forward. Had a great opportunity to put the ball on a plate for Long late in the second half but his cross lacked conviction, which summed up his display on the ball. Rather than building on their early one-goal advantage, Ireland lacked the requisite composure or conviction to hold on to the ball and suffered the consequences.
“Maybe we got off the hook a bit when they had chances; we maybe should have defended a little better on those occasions”. It was an easy conversion for Tadic, who slotted home down the middle to give the hosts the lead.
“We scored a goal and I thought we were fine at half-time”.
The midfielder bagged his first worldwide goal after just three minutes against the Serbs, showing great composure to score from a half volley in rainy Belgrade with his shot taking a welcome deflection off Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. And we’ve got off the mark, we’ve scored a great equalising goal.
“You would have taken a point before the game started”, he told Sky Sports 2. “And in a month’s time, if they are fit for global matches, having played some club games, I think that maybe could be of benefit to us”.
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Manager Jim Magilton is hoping that his Northern Ireland Under-21s can make things interesting at the top of their Euro 2017 qualifying group, even if they themselves cannot qualify for the finals.
