That was as good as it got for Northern Ireland and any hopes the rust would be shaken off after the break proved unfounded.
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Indeed, Ireland can be backed at a chunky 16/5 (4.20) with Paddy Power to pick up three precious points from this match, while the odds compilers offer 23/10 (3.30) that this Group D curtain raiser ends in stalemate.
“I thought we thwarted them pretty well in the first half”.
He said: “We held the ball, we had more chances, we were the one attacking and we absolutely deserved more than one point”.
The hosts went ahead not long after as Walters was deemed to have tripped Kostic in the corner of the box with the referee pointing to the spot.
It took Murphy four minutes after coming on as a substitute to get his first global goal and the leveller for the hosts, getting a strong header onto the end of a Brady corner and powering past goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic.
The object of last night’s exercise was to avoid defeat in Ireland’s opening World Cup Group D qualifier on the road to Russian Federation 2018.
Serbia’s Filip Mladenovic, right, challenges Ireland’s Jon Walters, during their World Cup Group D qualifying match at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. Daniel Lafferty has recently gone to Sheffield United, so we are asking Shane to play in a position that is not his natural position.
The Killybegs man who hasn’t played for Everton so far in the Premier League overcame an ankle injury to lead out the boys in green.
“They tell me the penalty was a little bit soft”.
O’Neill fully expects Serbia to win more important games in Belgrade and push for qualification to the 2018 World Cup finals in Russian Federation: “I think if the crowd decide to get behind the team and support them in droves – which I’ve seen before here – then I think it will be hard for the other teams”.
Turning his attention back to the result against Serbia, he added: “You don’t know realise hard it is to come away from home and score twice in such difficult conditions”. Coleman denied the Serbs a victor by making a last-ditch clearance off the line.
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Ireland boss O’Neill was delighted to see two new goalscorers on target following the retirement of Robbie Keane and the manager claims it gives him reason to be optimistic after kicking off a new qualification campaign.
