Armenians ‘more proud than angry’

HAVING had so little luck on the pitch last night, the Armenian manager Vardan Minasyan surprisingly had even less to say off it.

After his team had been beaten, the coach breezed right through the customary press conference merely offering congratulations to Ireland.

Forward Yura Movsisyan was a little more forthcoming however. He said that, overall, the Armenian squad were “more proud than angry” after a match in which they appeared to have an equal say until goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was controversially sent off.

Despite sounding generally magnanimous, though, Movsisyan did allude to Paris 2009: “Considering what happened to Ireland with [Thierry] Henry, I think it was favourable to them but I don’t really want to put everything on the referee,” he said.

“He did a fairly good job but he should have looked at the first play – the handball from the forward [Simon Cox] – before he gives the goalkeeper a red.

“I think if it was 11 v 11, we’ve shown in games before that we can come back and score goals. But that’s football. What can you do?

The referee gives a call, you’ve just got to keep your heads up.

“You’ve got to give credit to the 17-year-old keeper [Arsen Petrosyan] who came on the field too. He did a fantastic job in front of so many people. So we’re more proud than angry.

“A year ago, nobody would have bet on us being in this situation. I think we put Armenia on the map in the football world.

“We’re definitely looking forward to the next campaign. Sure, we’re definitely disappointed but I just have to say I’m very proud of our players.”