Republic of Ireland 1-0 Armenia: Tigran Parseghyan “lost his head” – Finn Azaz on his head

The thrilling win in Dublin lifted the Republic of Ireland to third place in Group F, one point behind Hungary, who boosted their chances of securing a play-off place after a thrilling late draw with Portugal.

The group is in a good position with two matches remaining. If Hungary beats Armenia in their next match, the Republic of Ireland must pick up at least one point to take the battle for second place into their trip to Budapest on November 16.

The Republic of Ireland’s chances were twice damaged by late goals during this period, after conceding Ruben Neves’ 91st-minute goal in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Portugal in Lisbon.

However, Azzaz will be hoping the Irish players can build on that performance and decisive win on Tuesday as they seek to upset Cristiano Ronaldo and co in Dublin on November 13.

Azaz added: “We know that it will be difficult, but we will gain confidence from last week and this match and we will be confident in our ability to do something special.”

“It will be a big occasion, we have seen the last match in which we can compete and they are great players, but we must be able to compete and there is no doubt that we will be ready for that.”

Armenia coach Yegesh Melikyan said that Parseghyan apologized to his teammates after the match.

Melikian said: “Of course, the red card changed the course of the match. It was a mistake.”

“He took responsibility. He said sorry to the whole dressing room. But if a player makes a mistake, it’s my fault too and for that I apologize.”

“If there was no red card and we played 11 v 11, I think we could have achieved a good result. I thought we could have won, but we have to move on and I think we can achieve good results in the near future.”