Stokes puts in the hard yards

Not too long ago, Anthony Stokes was seen to be a rebel without a cause, determined to flush his talent away. Last night, a new man emerged and showed he is ready to fulfil his potential.

It wasn’t that the Celtic striker bagged a hat-trick, tucked the match ball under his arm, proved Giovanni Trapattoni wrong, and left Robbie Keane sweating over his international future. Instead, he did the simple things well and that was what was required.

Chasing down German defenders, the 25-year-old put pressure on Ireland’s hosts at the right times and pushed them back a few yards at a time. And when he got the ball, Stokes tried to use it in a way that didn’t simply give it back to the three-time world champions.