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REP OF IRELAND 2 ARMENIA 1: REF HANDS IT TO IRISH
By Matt Butler
The Daily Star, UK
Oct 11 2011
LUCK is back with the Irish after Valeri Aleksanyan's own goal helped
seal a Euro 2012 play-off spot.
Giovanni Trapattoni's men have had their share of bad luck when it
comes to qualifiers, with Thierry Henry's handball denying them a
place in the 2010 World Cup. But lady luck was back on Ireland's side
last night.
First Armenia's keeper Roman Berezovsky was sent off for handling
Simon Cox's lob outside his own area as referee Eduardo Gonzalez
ignored the fact the striker had controlled the ball with his arm
and the keeper had used his chest to block it.
Then Aleksanyan found himself at the end of Damien Duff's cross after
Kevin Doyle had completely missed it and turned the ball into his
own net.
And the icing on the cake came on the hour as replacement keeper
Arsen Petrosyan made a hash of collecting Aiden McGeady's cross and
slapped the ball straight into the path of Richard Dunne to tap home.
Nerves jangled after Hen- rikh Mkhitaryan pulled one back.
Then Doyle was sent off for a second yellow with 10 minutes left after
a high challenge with his elbow and will miss the first play-off match.
But Ireland held on to book their play-off place.
Trapattoni's men headed into the game knowing a point would be enough
to be in tomorrow's play-off draw and having kept clean sheets in
their last eight games, they were confident.
But scoring had been a problem for the Irish and fans at the Aviva
Stadium had not seen a goal scored there since the 1-0 win over
Scotland in May.
Armenia needed a win in to go within a play-off of their first major
tourna- ment and they zipped the ball around from the beginning.
They looked dangerous on the break and Marcos Pizzelli skipped round
home keeper Shay Given but was just unable to get to the ball before
it rolled over the byline to safety.
Cox had the ball in the net on 22 minutes, after he had collided with
keeper Berezovsky trying to control McGeady's long punt from the left.
Berezovsky let go of the ball while he was having treatment and Cox
tapped it home unchallenged - but referee Gonzalez was having none
of it.
Three minutes later Bere- zovsky was sent off after he rushed out too
far to meet Cox - and the referee ruled that he had handled when he
was at least a yard out- side his area. After that little went right
for Armenia.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/215370/Rep-of-Ireland-2-Armenia-1-Ref-hands-it-to-Irish/
From: Baghdasarian
By Matt Butler
The Daily Star, UK
Oct 11 2011
LUCK is back with the Irish after Valeri Aleksanyan's own goal helped
seal a Euro 2012 play-off spot.
Giovanni Trapattoni's men have had their share of bad luck when it
comes to qualifiers, with Thierry Henry's handball denying them a
place in the 2010 World Cup. But lady luck was back on Ireland's side
last night.
First Armenia's keeper Roman Berezovsky was sent off for handling
Simon Cox's lob outside his own area as referee Eduardo Gonzalez
ignored the fact the striker had controlled the ball with his arm
and the keeper had used his chest to block it.
Then Aleksanyan found himself at the end of Damien Duff's cross after
Kevin Doyle had completely missed it and turned the ball into his
own net.
And the icing on the cake came on the hour as replacement keeper
Arsen Petrosyan made a hash of collecting Aiden McGeady's cross and
slapped the ball straight into the path of Richard Dunne to tap home.
Nerves jangled after Hen- rikh Mkhitaryan pulled one back.
Then Doyle was sent off for a second yellow with 10 minutes left after
a high challenge with his elbow and will miss the first play-off match.
But Ireland held on to book their play-off place.
Trapattoni's men headed into the game knowing a point would be enough
to be in tomorrow's play-off draw and having kept clean sheets in
their last eight games, they were confident.
But scoring had been a problem for the Irish and fans at the Aviva
Stadium had not seen a goal scored there since the 1-0 win over
Scotland in May.
Armenia needed a win in to go within a play-off of their first major
tourna- ment and they zipped the ball around from the beginning.
They looked dangerous on the break and Marcos Pizzelli skipped round
home keeper Shay Given but was just unable to get to the ball before
it rolled over the byline to safety.
Cox had the ball in the net on 22 minutes, after he had collided with
keeper Berezovsky trying to control McGeady's long punt from the left.
Berezovsky let go of the ball while he was having treatment and Cox
tapped it home unchallenged - but referee Gonzalez was having none
of it.
Three minutes later Bere- zovsky was sent off after he rushed out too
far to meet Cox - and the referee ruled that he had handled when he
was at least a yard out- side his area. After that little went right
for Armenia.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/215370/Rep-of-Ireland-2-Armenia-1-Ref-hands-it-to-Irish/
From: Baghdasarian