Crawford full of praise for hat-trick man Vata
BIGGER FISH TO FRY: Rocco Vata of the Republic of Ireland in action against Mattia Sancisi of San Marino. Pic: Roberto Bregani/Sportsfile
A record breaking, ruthless Republic of Ireland under-21s earned a valuable three points in the race for Euro 2025 qualification and manager Jim Crawford was full of praise for his troops as they sit second in Group A, just a solitary point behind Italy - who had a 2-0 win in Latvia.
“I thought the boys were fantastic,” said the 50-year-old. “It’s a different type of pressure in those types of games. As we spoke about before, complacency and it was important not to get complacent because at international football, that could hurt you.
“We know quite well some stage San Marino are going to get a draw or a win against somebody, so we just needed to make sure it wasn’t against us. It was a real disciplined performance in terms of us being in possession and to the letter of the law carried out the game plan, which was excellent.
"But I’m not surprised with the group we have, they’re a real talented bunch and the pity for me is that I couldn’t get everybody on the pitch. They have worked hard whether it be on the pitch or team meetings, and we got our just rewards.”
Hat-trick hero Rocco Vata, a brace from Sinclair Armstrong and well-taken finishes from Andy Moran and Armstrong Okoflex gave Jim Crawford's men a morale-boosting victory, and the young Celtic star deservedly came in for some praise from his delighted boss, adding: “Rocco’s been excellent all week.
"He’s certainly a goal scorer, he scored two against San Marino at Turner's Cross and he certainly has ability.
"He’s still learning the game, and will do that at Celtic. They’ll help him a lot but also at international football, which is a little bit different than club football, we’ll help him too,” said Crawford.
"He’s certainly a player with high potential and I’m delighted he got three goals, it’s a a fantastic achievement for somebody so young.”
The young Boys in Green had been desperately unlucky in their last couple of outings in Group A with just one point gained against two top-class qualification rivals. A narrow 3-2 defeat in Norway before being undone by a late Italian leveller by Willy Gnonto in dramatic circumstances meant Jim Crawford's side had no room for error at the San Marino Stadium.
But Crawford's charges showed real maturity and put the last international window to the back of their mind, putting in a professional performance.
And the man with the match ball, Vata, agreed with the score being just 1-0 at the break.
“The message was to keep going, keep playing the way we are playing. I feel like in the first half we were doing well to get in the box but when it came time to put the ball in the back of the net there were too many people in the way, clearing off the line but in the second half we put them to the sword.
“What a feeling,” beamed the 18-year-old speaking about his first international hat-trick.
“It’s my first 90 minutes in about three months or so with injury and only being back up to the first team, only getting time as a sub so it was nice to get minutes and found myself in the right positions and was good to get a hat-trick.”
And with this team performance, the attacking midfielder is hoping it sends a message out to the rest of the group.
“Yeah, that shows our qualities. To be honest it should have been more than that considering the first half, five or six chances cleared off the line. So yeah, it sends a message that we’re a team that can score goals and are dangerous going forward and (strong) in defence.”
Skipper Joe Hodge and Andy Moran, ahead of their fully-deserved call-ups to the senior side, started in the same team for the first time this campaign and dominated proceedings as expected and Crawford was keen to praise the attitude of his two stars before they head off to join John O’Shea’s group before their doubleheader.
“I’m sure John (O’Shea) watched the game, but look I always had it in mind that if we got comfortable, I would take the boys off to give them time to recover.
“The biggest compliment I can give the two boys is they came here, against the lowest ranked side and they played the game as if they were on trial. They worked exceptionally hard, but I didn’t expect anything less because they are two fantastic characters, two fantastic footballers and the sky is the limit for the two of them and I hope they get a few minutes for the senior team on Tuesday.”
It did take until the 25th minute for the visitors to breach an initially stubborn defence when QPR star Armstrong was on hand to finish a beautiful flowing move, sweeping home confidently for his fourth international goal.
Having finally made the breakthrough, the chances kept flowing and really should have made it two when Armstrong powered a header off the crossbar from point-blank range.
The one-way traffic continued after the break, and the lively Tony Springett continued to look a threat from the right-hand side.
A hint of frustration began to creep its way into some of the Ireland players when, five minutes after the restart, a few stars missed further chances from close range. First Springett saw a volley deflected over, before Vata and Armstrong fluffed their lines with the goal at their mercy.
But the slight frustration didn't last when, four minutes later, Andy Moran deservedly doubled their lead, showing lightning-quick reactions to follow up and score from Vata’s free kick that was initially spilled by Batistini.
Moments later it was three following another slick move down the right that saw the impressive Matt Healy drill a low cross into the danger area, as Armstrong slid in to apply the finish.
After the hour mark, Vata showed his class as he hit San Marino with a quick-fire double of his own. Firstly, taking advantage of some comical defensive play to volley home from inside the area, before finding himself central and hitting an unstoppable drive from 25 yards out into the bottom corner to make it five.
The devastating Irish made it six as substitute Okoflex finished high into the roof of the net before Vata tapped home from close range for his hat-trick to put the cherry on top, as they now look forward to a tough Turkish test in their next Euro qualifier in September.
Matteo Batistini; Giacomo Benvenuti, Giacomo Matteoni, Mattia Sancisi (Diego Zavoli, 63’); Simone Giocondi, Matteo Valli Casadei, Nicolo Sancisi (Nicolas Giacopetti, 63’), Nicolo Chiaruzzi (Marco Casadei, 80’), Tommaso Benvenuti (Luca Terenzi, 80’); Samuele Zannoni (Andrea Dolcini, 73’), Nicola D’Addario.
Josh Keeley; Sam Curtis (Sean Grehan, 65’), Bosun Lawal, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, Tayo Adaramola; Joe Hodge (Killian Phillips, 75’), Matt Healy, Andrew Moran (Zak Gilsenan, 70’); Tony Springett (Armstrong Oko-Flex, 65’), Rocco Vata, Sinclair Armstrong (Mark O’Mahony, 65’)
Viktor Kopiievskyi (Ukraine)
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