Republic of Ireland do enough to get the win and keep their World Cup hopes alive for another month

Republic of Ireland 1

Armenia 0

The Republic of Ireland saved their World Cup qualifying campaign with Evan Ferguson scoring in the second half to secure a  1-0 victory over Armenia at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

The result gives the Boys in Green four points and could act as a springboard towards bigger things with games to come in November against Portugal and Hungary.

With Portugal and Hungary drawing two all, Ireland will now need to get a positive result against Portugal next month at home before they head to Hungary.

Suddenly, things are looking a lot different from the days in September following their defeat in Yerevan.

The Republic of Ireland had to go for it after losing in Lisbon at the weekend and with that came an early Jake O’Brien header that went wide at the near post.

Things settled into a prolonged period in possession for the home side that saw very little penetration of the Armenia backline.

Ferguson did take touches inside the box as he tried to knit something together, the problem was finding a green jersey in space when it mattered the most as attack after attack broke down.

Armenia actually had the best chance of the first half as an unmarked Eduard Spertsyan fired wide in the 37th minute with his left boot.

The game restarted with a cross into the box and a collision between Seamus Coleman and Henri Avagyan as the full back tried to get to the ball on the penalty spot.

It was a small moment that injected life into the crowd following a first 45 that failed to produce a meaningful shot on target.

Things escalated during the game’s next phase as Armenia were reduced to ten after Tigran Barseghyan saw red after a headbutting Finn Azaz.

With the roar of the decision came a frenzied push by the Ireland, beginning with a Nathan Collins header getting pushed away by Avagyan in the 53rd minute. 

This was followed with a sublime stop on the goal line by the Armenia goalkeeper to deny Dara O’Shea, and the loose ball narrowly missed an onrushing Collins.

Further chances fell to Jayson Molumby, who hit the ball over the bar in the 64th minute.

Ireland eventually went wide and this outlet led to the goal as Ferguson was able to turn in a Will Smallbone cross in the 70th minute.

Adam Idah had a chance to wrap things up near the end and a close range effort by the forward was stopped by Avagyan with a low save.

The Douglas native did hit the back of the net late on, and this was ruled out for offside in the buildup.

Republic of Ireland: Caoimhin Kelleher; Seamus Coleman, Jake O'Brien, Dara O'Shea, Nathan Collins, Ryan Manning, Will Smallbone, Jayson Molumby, Finn Azaz, Festy Ebosele, Evan Ferguson.

Subs: Chiedozie Ogbene for Coleman (64); Troy Parrott for Ebosele (65), Adam Idah for Ferguson (81), Jack Taylor for Smallbone (81).

Armenia: Henri Avagyan; Kamo Hovhannisyan, Erik Piloyan, Sergi Muradian, Styopa Mkrtchyan, Eduard Spertsyan, Ugochukwu Iwu, Nayair Tiknizyan, Tigran Barseghyan, Grant-Leon Ranos, Zhirayr Shaghoyan.

Subs: Lucas Zelarayan (HT); Artur Miranyan for Ranos (71), Edgar Grigoryan for Tiknizyan (72).

Referee: Benoit Bastien (France)