Ireland held by Georgia as World Cup qualifying hopes suffer blow

Ireland lost pace with Serbia in Group D on a disappointing night in Tbilisi as they were held 1-1 by Georgia.

With Serbia completing a 3-0 win over Moldova, they lead D on 15 points with Martin O'Neill's side two points behind on 13 points. Wales host Austria knowing a win would see them close to two points behind the second-placed Republic with three games remainin.

Ireland had got off to the best possible start when Shane Duffy headed in Cyrus Christie's free-kick after just four minutes, with Georgia goalkeeper Georgi Makaridze at fault for coming for a ball that wasn't his.

However following the goal Ireland dropped very deep, trying to shut the game down, and they allowed Georgia back in and the home side began to dominate.

The impressive Jano Ananidze started to influence proceedings and after receiving the ball on the edge of the area from Valerian Gvilia he slipped in Valeri Qazaishvili who made no mistake just a few yards out with ten minutes to go before the break.

In the second-half, Ireland started to push higher up the pitch but it wasn't until the last 20 minutes when they started to really pose any questions of Georgia as the hosts started to tire.

Despite throwing on Daryl Murphy and Aiden McGeady Ireland struggled to create many clear-cut chances, bar a late effort from James McClean that was smothered by Makaridze as Georgia found a second wind and held out for a well-deserved draw.

Ireland now host group leaders Serbia on Tuesday, knowing that a victory would allow them to leap-frog the visitors and go top of Group D.

Ireland's negativity costs them. Before the match Martin O'Neill spoke of how Georgia were better than the table suggested and his team would have to be careful. They got the perfect start but after that let themselves down by sitting deep. They didn't test Makaridze fully after his mistake in the Ireland goal and they gave Georgia the platform they needed to get back into the match. Georgia ended with just under 70% possession and the result means they're going to have to be aggressive on Tuesday to get the better of Serbia. How much better would it have been to get a win here, draw with Serbia and then look for wins in the last two matches against Moldova and Wales?

Otar Kakabadze (Georgia): In this qualification period McClean has been one of the best players for Ireland, but he was kept so quiet by Kakabadze that in the second-half he switched over to the right wing. It wasn't just his defensive work either, he produced a few delightful nutmegs on McClean and had the beating of the winger and Stephen Ward whenever he burst forward. His delivery was reliable and most of the good work Georgia did came through him. The hugely talented, but injury prone, Jano also deserves a mention for the way he linked midfield and attack.

Georgia - Makaridze 5; Kakabadze 7, Kashia 6, Kverkvelia 5, Navalovski 5; Jigauri 5, Gvilia 7, Kvekveskiri 6, Qazaishvili 7; Ananidze 7; Kviltaia 5. Subs: Chanturia 5, Merebashvili 5, Khocholava 5

Ireland - Randolph 5, Christie 5, Duffy 6, Clark 5, Ward 5, Whelan 4, Arter 5, Brady 4, McClean 5, Walters 5, Long 6. Subs: McGeady 5, Murphy 5

4' - GOAL! GEORGIA 0-1 IRELAND (DUFFY) Free-kick to Ireland on the half-way stage and GOAL! Duffy scores! That's horrendous mistake from Makaridze. He comes to try and claim it but he gets nowhere near it and Duffy heads into the empty net. Brilliant start for Ireland!

20' - Oh as I write that a great ball is fizzed in from Georgia's right. It's flicked on but there's no-one at the back post and it goes wide. GREAT CHANCE! Walters curls in a cracking ball from Ireland's right at the other end, thanks to more great work from Long, but McClean's header goes wide.

34' - GOAL! GEORGIA 1-1 IRELAND (QAZAISHVILI) What at terrific goal from Georgia and they absolutely deserve it. It starts with Gvilia who fires a beautiful ball into the feet of Ananidze. He takes a clever touch and slips in Qazaishvili who keeps his cool and slots it under Randolph.

86' - Long does brilliantly to keep the ball alive and he feeds McClean who bursts into the box. Makaridze gets out well to make the save and just about deals with the follow-up.

90+3' - Late Georgia change. Qazaishvili is off for Khocholava. A free-kick is played into the Georgia box and it's flicked on and McGeady blazes over! Golden chance.