Republic of Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson said that his side can “do a little bit better” after their 2-1 comeback victory against Bulgaria in the first leg of their Nations League play-off.
Bulgaria took a shock lead in Plovdiv through Marin Petkov’s early goal on six minutes, before the visitors hit back through goals from Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty to lead before half-time.
They take a narrow advantage into the second leg in Dublin on Sunday and Hallgrimsson knows there are improvements to be made as they look to retain their League B status.
“We can do a little bit better. It’s only the first game of two. We are looking forward to going to Dublin and playing them in our home,” he told RTE.
Hallgrimsson was pleased with the “character” shown as the Republic recovered from an early sucker punch to pick up only their second away victory of the manager’s tenure.
“I thought the first half was really good from us, even though we were unlucky when they scored through their first attack,” he continued.
“I was just hoping that we would continue what we had planned to do [after Bulgaria scored] and we did and we had some really good moves, it was what we wanted them to do, and I was happy at half-time.
“It was a good response, good character, good deep runs and crosses in the first half. A little bit less of that in the second, but a pretty good defensive performance in the second half.”
Goalscorer Azaz said he was “buzzing” to net his first international goal from close range which capped an impressive first-half display from the Middlesborough midfielder.
“[Troy Parrott] put it on a plate for me, so I’ll say thank you to Troy for that. It was a great ball from Robbie [Brady] too and I just had to be in there,” he told RTE.
“It was probably the easiest goal I have ever scored; I don’t score many headers so I’m glad to score one tonight.”
The 24-year-old believes his side can take a lot of confidence from their performance on a difficult pitch at the Hristo Botev Stadium, which made the second half a scrappy affair.
“The pitch was tough to play on, but I think we were good, we are still building, and the confidence is still building. We’ll take a lot from it.
“We created lots of chances and dominated the first half, and it was just about game management in the second half.”
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