Martin O’Neill promises to attack in return leg after tough away draw

Martin O’Neill emerged out of the fog in Zenica last night with mixed feelings about what he had seen — and not seen.

A 1-1 draw would have been a more than acceptable result before kick-off, and the manager was certainly happy with the bonus of the away goal, but there was also just a touch of disappointment that Ireland had not been able to protect their late lead and see out the remainder of the game out with a clean sheet.

“It was a really tough game for us, but we fought strongly, we’re still in the tie and there’s everything to play for,” he said.

“An away goal is great, an enormous boost for Robbie Brady and us, but that can be taken away from you. I don’t think the advantage is with us. I think Bosnia are capable of scoring a goal, but we’ve given ourselves a chance.”

He therefore dismissed the idea that Ireland can go into Monday night’s game looking to do no more than secure the nil-nil draw that would be enough to put them through.

“The onus is on us to try and win because I feel Bosnia are capable of scoring a goal,” he insisted. “Our mindset should be to win. I don’t think we can afford to sit in. We were away tonight against a good Bosnian side and also against the crowd but, at home, we will attempt to attack more in the second game if we can.”

Of the resolute qualities which came to the fore for Ireland, O’Neill observed: “We might be lacking certain things, but in terms of desire, and willingness to compete and stay with it, that performance epitomised that.”

He had particular words of praise for the centre-half partnership of Ciaran Clark and Richard Keogh. “I thought they were really, really excellent. They had a tough job all evening against top-quality players and they were outstanding for us. Clark was rock solid and Keogh had a very strong game.”

The Derryman was also pleased referee Felix Brych allowed the game to continue through to a conclusion on the night despite the near pea-soup conditions at times.

“I obviously was concerned. It looked like it was deepening but I didn’t know until afterwards that, if it had been called off, we would have come back to play only the rest of the game tomorrow. I’m delighted the fog didn’t prevent the game from finishing and, while we might gripe about one or two decisions, I have to say I thought the referee was outstanding — and I haven’t said that for a long time about a referee.”

O’Neill confirmed John O’Shea will join up with the squad in Dublin today, as will Jon Walters. Injury concern O’Shea will continue to be monitored, along with Shane Long who, according to the manager, still hasn’t ruled himself out of the second leg.

Disappointed Bosnian coach Mehmed Bazdarevic was not in a good position to talk us through either of last night’s goals. “I can only comment on the first half because I saw hardly anything of the second because of the visibility,” he said.

“Overall we didn’t play as well as we should. We didn’t manage to make life difficult for opponents who really played tough.

“Did we expect more? We did. We do have regrets for not doing more. And we wished for a better result. Perhaps we should have taken more risks and we should have created more situations like we did in the first half.

“But I’m still an optimist, I always am, and if we play better and have a better attitude we can have a better second game.”