In-form Stephen Ward eyes up attack options

After helping contain last season’s Premier League top two on their home patches, Stephen Ward might be tempted into thinking today’s assignment in Georgia is a formality.

Shackling players based in Latvia, Kazakhstan and Hungary forms a different proposition to that posed by Chelsea and Tottenham’s world stars but the 32-year-old is seasoned enough to apply the same degree of diligence and respect.

Ward was in the Ireland side that three years ago needed Aiden McGeady’s magic feet to extract them from a problematic situation in Tbilisi. He also recalls the joy he felt at Georgia beating Scotland at the same venue 12 months later — a result which ultimately Ireland required so as to edge Gordon Strachan’s side for their play-off passage into the Euros.