Heimir Hallgrimsson was disappointed the Republic of Ireland walked away with nothing to show from their efforts in Linz where Austria sealed promotion to the top tier of the Nations League with a 1-0 win.
It was a much gutsier performance from the visitors, who opened their campaign with a 1-0 loss to Kosovo – their opponents in Tuesday’s must-win clash at the Aviva Stadium, which would keep the door open for an historic promotion via the play-offs.
There were chances for the Boys in Green, but Sasa Kalajdzic was the only man who made one count when he poked the winner past Caoimhin Kelleher in the 79th minute.
Hallgrimsson said: “We got into so many good positions, we got so many crosses, we got so many corners, we got so many throw-ins that created chances in the box, but we just couldn’t (score). That was not our day scoring goals.
“In general, we are never happy losing, but the performance, I have to give credit to the players, and then a key message after this game is we need to have the same energy, the same positivity, the same belief in what we are doing when we play Kosovo in two days, and now it’s our job to get full recovery for every player for the upcoming game.”
Captain Nathan Collins was back in Hallgrimsson’s line-up after missing the previous window with a calf issue, but his boss revealed the defender “felt something in his knee” when he fell down at the Raiffeisen Arena.
The Brentford centre-back will be sent for a scan on Monday “to be safe”, Hallgrimsson said.
The Icelandic boss also did not hold back on his assessment of the officiating, including several incidents where he felt the hosts had escaped without severe enough punishment.
“I was on a few occasions, let’s say, unhappy with the referees this game,” Hallgrimsson added.
“I’m not going to go into the referees, but I think there were things in the game that could have been refereed better than that one.
“I felt that they weren’t even looking at VAR. There was a handball in the first half. I felt the referee just played the game on without even looking at it, (and) I think the yellow card for the tackle on Dara (O’Shea) was at least worth looking at from that perspective, and then the elbow on Dara again.
“It was a few incidents I’ve seen given red cards for that, but this was the line and we had to accept that.”
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