Armenia boss: No tragedy if we fail

VARDAN MINASYAN has spoken before about the gulf in experience between his coaching CV and that of Giovanni Trapattoni’s but the Armenian manager gave a display worthy of the wily old Italian at last night’s press conference.

The visitors have arrived in Dublin on the back of an impressive run of form that has propelled them into the unforeseen position of needing just one more win to claim a play-off place as they look to secure a first ever appearance at a major championship.

That is one heck of a carrot for a team built on youth and a manager in his mid-30s but Minasyan simply shrugged off the magnitude of it all by insisting that this campaign has been all about gaining experience and building towards a place in Brazil in 2014.