I was going to say that “low key” was a diplomatic way to describe this afternoon’s goalless draw between the Republic of Ireland and Wales in Dublin in their latest match in the Nations League qualifying process, but, in reality, that term applies to the whole of this year’s competition if you’re Welsh.
The 1-0 win over Finland in Helsinki to begin the group was okay in terms of performance, but no more than that, yet, compared to the two games that have followed, it was on a much higher plane.
The Bulgaria match in Cardiff was “rescued” by Nico Williams’ goal deep into added time to provide another 1-0 victory and it is undeniably true that Wales’ first two matches fell into the result was better the performance category – now we have hat trick of such games.
That’s the thing about today’s bore draw – looked at in the context of two games, two wins, it was a very acceptable outcome. With a third away trip of this international week to come on Wednesday when we play Bulgaria in Sofia, another unbeaten game would leave us very well placed with all of our away matches completed and a couple of home encounters next month to come.
Maybe that was in the mind of Ryan Giggs and his players today, because, for much of the time, it looked like a draw was the limit of their ambition. Evan when Ireland were reduced to ten men in the eighty fifth minute when James MacLean was shown a second yellow card, Wales did not go chasing the win.
Despite the lack of excitement, it could definitely be argued that Wales were the better side in their games with Finland and Bulgaria, but that certainly didn’t apply here.
You know what you’re going to get with Ireland these days – in many ways, they are like City in that they’re resilient, hard working, difficult to play against and a threat from set pieces, but they have little in the way of a cutting edge and so games involving them tend to be a bit of a grind.
Today’s Wales needed that Irish lack of an end product to get their point because, in chances and goal attempts, the home team were definitely superior.
The BBC’s stats has Ireland having eleven shots to our seven, with both sides having two efforts on target, but, whereas a fair portion of the men in greens off target attempts were hit from positions where Wayne Hennessy should definitely have been worked, it’s hard to think of any of the Welsh ones which may have done so apart from a left footed second half effort by captain Aaron Ramsey which was deflected for a corner.
A poor first half only sprung into life very spasmodically. Wales, careless in possession early on (a habit which was maintained throughout the ninety minutes) then showed an example of the sharp and skilful forward play which you would expect to be a feature of their game when you consider the talent they have in attacking areas, but we’ve seen so little of it in recent years. The ball was moved fluently to Harry Wilson who worked a position where he got away a left footed shot from the edge of the penalty area which was pushed around the post by Darren Randolph.
That was the one and only time that I thought a Welsh goal may be on both in open play and from set pieces and Wilson was involved again, when his careless pass prompted an Irish counter attack in which Robbie Brady was presented with a shooting opportunity from eighteen yards which, for someone of his ability with his left foot was a real scoring chance, but he sent his effort narrowly wide.
Wales may not have created anything worthwhile in the rest of the game, but they could have had a penalty when Randolph made a mess of what should have been a routine catch from a corner and bowled over Ethan Ampadu in his desperation to make up for his error, only for Greek referee Sidiropolous, who, incidentally, was clearly not a fan of Keiffer Moore, to ludicrously penalise Ampadu for a foul – I thought it was a penalty, but could maybe understand why it might not be given, giving Ireland a free kick though was beyond my comprehension!
That was it really as far as first half action went, the second period could only be better surely and it was, just. In fact, for about five or ten minutes after the restart, Wales looked like they were beginning to get their act together as, without doing anything to suggest a goal, they at least looked like they were in the process of seizing control.
This spell was abruptly ended by Ireland when they capitalised on a Welsh loss of possession. For long periods, it looked like hoping to cash in on a turnover of possession represented both sides sole attacking ploy and here the Irish, broke forward quickly. A quality cross saw Shane Long presented with what I thought was the best chance of the match when completely unmarked and stood by the penalty spot with Hennessy drawn some way off his line, but the veteran striker headed carelessly over.
Wales did manage a under hit daisy trimmer from sub David Brooks which was easily saved by Randolph as their other on target goal attempt, but, although Ireland were no great shakes themselves when it came to threatening the Welsh goal, they had the better of things after Long’s miss, notably when Joe Rodon cleared a header by sub Daryl Horgan off the line.
The, admittedly, slim chance that Ireland may break the deadlock ended when MacLean was shown his red card (it may have been a popular decision among football fans considering the player’s unpopularity, but I thought his first booking was harsh), but Wales were a mixture of too lethargic and too cautious to take advantage and, so we left Dublin with a point which I’m sure we would have accepted before kick off.
Thinking about it now, I’m struggling to think of anyone in the Welsh side who I’d say played well – centrebacks Rodon and Ampadu were guilty of giving the ball away cheaply at times, but overall I’d make them our best performers on a day when I’d say no one turned in better than a six out of ten display.
Can I also give a mention to my new book Real Madrid and all that which has been bought out to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary on 10 March next year of Cardiff City’s win over the team which can be judged as the best in Europe based on their record in continent wide club tournaments since they were introduced in the 1950s. The book is more than that though, it’s a review of the whole of the momentous 1970/71 season which saw us fighting for promotion to the old First division, reaching two Cup Finals and scoring the best goal I’ve seen us scoring in nearly sixty years of supporting the club – it also contained the most controversial transfer of my Cardiff City supporting life.
Real Madrid and all that is available in e book and paperback formats and can only be purchased from Amazon.
Once again, can I finish by making a request for support from readers by them becoming my Patrons through Patreon. Full details of this scheme and the reasons why I decided to introduce it can be found here, but I should say that the feedback I have got in the past couple of years has indicated a reluctance from some to use Patreon as they prefer to opt for a direct payment to me. If you are interested in becoming a patron and would prefer to make a direct contribution, please contact me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com or in the Feedback section of the blog and I will send you my bank/PayPal details.
