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Ivan Ferguson’s fourth goal in five competitive internationals kept the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dreams alive as they went through with 10 players. armenia To claim his first Group F win.
Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson had already admitted that he would accept a “stupid” performance and a 1–0 victory on a night when victory was the only option, and ireland A result was eventually delivered – if only justly – as they made the most of Tigran Barseghyan’s absurd second-half dismissal for a headbutt on Finn Azza.
Twenty-year-old Ferguson, who had missed a great chance to open the scoring just seconds earlier, scored with a 70th-minute header to seal a 1-0 win at the Aviva Stadium and secure Portugal’s trip to Dublin next month. Hungary What follows is meaningful, if also challenging.
They will have to perform much better than the 103rd ranked team in both the games. fifa If they stand any chance of claiming the runners-up spot after a performance that lacked the necessary motivation to make life much easier than it ultimately was, in the long run.
The hosts’ promising start soon evaporated as Armenia settled, though, despite dangerman Eduard Spursyan’s probing form, they were unable to break through Hallgrimsson’s shape out of possession in a 5-4-1.
Ryan Manning, who was causing problems down the left, drilled wide at the other end four minutes later after Festi Ebosele got past defender Styopa Mkrtchyan on the opposite flank.
But Ireland had a rare escape seven minutes before the break when a bandaged Barseghyan – he had earlier clashed heads with Dara O’Shea – played Kamo Hovhannisyan into space on the right and he fired a volley wide of the back post for Spetsrayan.
Neither goalkeeper could make any saves at the end of the first half and this was a huge problem for the home side, who left the pitch with a less than commendable farewell.
Seamus Coleman took a barge – for which he was booked – on keeper Henry Avagyan as he collected a looping Ajaz header to send the home crowd reeling and temperatures soared when Barseghyan hit his head across the face of the Southampton man and was sent off seven minutes after the restart.
Avagyan managed to block Nathan Collins’ header from a Manning cross seconds later and then made a superb save from O’Shea’s deflected header as Ireland realized their opportunity, but a lack of accuracy continued to let them down.
Jason Molumby fired high and wide on the turn from Manning’s pull-back and Ferguson fired straight at Avagyan after Ajaz had cleverly turned and slid it inside.
But the Roma striker improved with 20 minutes remaining when, after working a short corner from Ireland, he completed his run with perfection to meet Will Smallbone’s cross with an unstoppable close-range header.
Avagyan made a remarkable stop to deny substitute Adam Idah’s mis-hit effort from point-blank range and the Swansea frontman had an 89th-minute strike ruled out for offside as Ireland notched a first home win in a World Cup qualifier since October 2017.