VIDEO: Robbie Brady clears fog to give Ireland upper hand
But thanks to a moment of magic from Robbie Brady, it’s advantage Ireland as they take a precious away goal into the second leg. The only pity is that, after an often exemplary defensive display, the visitors couldn’t hold onto their lead last night, Bosnian skipper and danger man Edin Dzeko responding to Brady’s 82nd minute strike with an equaliser just three minutes later.
Still, it was the small band of Irish supporters who were still singing long after the locals had disappeared off into the mist — and understandably so after a night which delivered almost as good a result as Martin O’Neill could have hoped for.
Even before kick off, as the stadium filled up to its capacity of just a little over 12,000, you could understand why the Bilino Polje in Zenica is a beloved home for the Bosnian national team. A proper little football ground with good, old school floodlights, such as you might encounter in the lower leagues in England — or even a bit like Dalyer, as Stephen Ward pointed out — a full house in its intimate setting generates an electric atmosphere of equal parts ferocious passion for the home side and ear-splitting hostility towards the visitors. And as almost the entire ground, clad in bright yellow and blue, chanted thunderously while bouncing up and down, a small immobile green wedge in the corner tried its best to lift its voice into the foggy night.
Under the testing circumstances — and this was before Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic entered the fray — O’Neill put out arguably his strongest team given his limited options, with Stephen Ward’s instalment at full-back allowing Brady to revert to the advanced role better suited to his attacking demeanour. While Ciaran Clark, as expected, came in to partner Richard Keogh in the absence of John O’Shea, there was never going to be a like for like replacement for the suspended Jon Walters, Jeff Hendrick taking up position on the right side of midfield. Walters as a target for the kick outs from Darron Randolph was off the agenda.
Having broken his season’s duck for Ipswich with a hat-trick last weekend, Daryl Murphy was given another chance to open his Irish account in place of the injured Shane Long, Robbie Keane once again consigned to the bench at the start. And, after all the artificial furore surrounding his cameo in Warsaw, there was the welcome sight of Wes Hoolahan on from the start to lend hope that possession of the football would not be entirely monopolised by the men in blue. Glenn Whelan, meanwhile, wore the skipper’s armband.
Surprisingly, it was the home side who began the game by favouring the long ball from the back, in search of Dzeko’s head, Ireland answering by doing much the same, with Murphy the intended target. Nervous touches and wayward passes were evident from both sides in the early stages before Bosnia had their first sight of goal 10 minutes in, Pjanic driving one over the top after a pull back from Mensur Mujdza.
That was pretty much the signal for Bosnia, all pace and flashes of panache, to more or less dominate the next 30 minutes, with Mujdza enjoying acres of space up Ward’s flank — where Brady was also culpable in losing the ball — and only some solid Irish defending, combined with Bosnian profligacy in the box, keeping the scoreboard bare.
Still, Randolph wasn’t exactly overworked, Bosnia’s best efforts coming in the 13th minute when Ervin Zukanovic, entirely unmarked, failed to get proper contact with head on a corner with the goal gaping and then nine minutes later when Vedad Ibesevic volleyed yet another ball from the right into the side netting. While Dzeko was giving a masterclass in ball retention and distribution at one end, Murphy was barely getting a look in at the other end and, more worrying still, even Hoolahan was struggling to make any use of Ireland’s limited possession.
When Ciaran Clark made a great rescuing tackle late in the half, the handshakes he received from various team mates just about summed up the one really impressive aspect of Ireland’s performance before the teams went in scoreless at the break.
The fog had thickened by the time the action resumed, soon making it virtually impossible to see right across the pitch, and adding an appropriately Hammer horror dimension to the night that was in it.
We could just about make out James McClean coming for Hoolahan on the hour mark but immediately worried if we’d see the Derryman again, since he was operating on the shrouded flank opposite the press box.
But with Ireland badly lacking pace in Long’s absence, in Bosnia’s final third, it was a sensible change.
The longer game went on with no change on the scoreboard, the more frustrated the Bosnian team and their supporters were becoming, with Keogh and Clark offering excellent protection to Randolph’s goal, and more fresh defensive legs arriving as Marc Wilson came on for Ward in the 68th minute. In the middle of the park, Glenn Whelan was doing trojan work to disrupt Bosnia’s efforts at regaining momentum.
Then, in the 82nd minute, came the game changer, a Randolph clearance offering Brady the chance for a run at the Bosnian goal and, after the Norwich man cleverly turned inside his marker, his left-footed drive beat Asmir Begovic low inside his near post.
You couldn’t see the Irish fans in the fog but, boy, could you hear them.
That is, until three minutes later, when the Irish rearguard finally cracked and that man Dzeko found the net with a side-footed finish, the bulk of the crowd at last having something to cheer about.
They even resumed bounce up and down for a bit too but, at the final whistle, it was Ireland leaving the pitch and going into the second leg with a spring in their step.
Begovic, Mujdza, Sunjic, Spahic, Zukanovic, Visca, Pjanic, Cocalic, Lulic, Ibisevic, Dzeko.
Vranje for Mujda (51); Djuric for Vica (73); I. Hajrovic for Lulic (88)
Randolph, Coleman, Keogh, Clark, Ward, Hendrick, McCarthy, Whelan, Brady, Hoolahan, Murphy.
McClean for Hoolahan (58); Wilson for Ward (67); McGeady for Brady (86)
Felix Brych
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