Agonising wait for Duff

DESPITE an overnight improvement in the condition of Damien Duff’s injury, assistant manager Chris Hughton was quick to dampen speculation yesterday that Duff will start for Ireland in tomorrow night’s Euro 2004 qualifier at Lansdowne Road.

Duff did not train at the squad's base at Malahide yesterday, with Hughton explaining:

"What we are looking for is an improvement from day-to-day and he has improved. He is quite bright in himself and optimistic. It is a situation we will monitor consistently."