Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill was in defiant mood after seeing Scotland “get away” with a priceless Euro 2016 point in Dublin.
John O’Shea’s unfortunate second-half own goal handed the visitors a 1-1 draw from a game of which Ireland had the better for it for long periods and took a first-half lead through Jon Walters.
The result left the Republic still two points adrift of their neighbours in Group D, but five shy of leaders Poland following their demolition of Georgia, and further reduced O’Neill’s chances of leading the nation to the finals in France.
He said: “Naturally, the advantage is to Scotland because the status quo remains. They must be delighted to get away with something in the game.
“But having said that, we are still well in the group – and this is not just fighting, bravado talk – we are still still well in the group. The two games in September, we will take those and see where that leaves us by the time that we come into the Germany game.
“We have those two games to win, away in Gibraltar and at home to Georgia.”
Walters stabbed the home side into a 38th-minute lead at the Aviva Stadium after keeper David Marshall could only block Daryl Murphy’s header with the Scots appealing in vain for offside, and the Ipswich striker might have doubled their advantage before the break.
However, Shaun Maloney, who scored the only goal in Scotland’s victory over the Irish in November, saw his curling effort deflected past keeper Shay Given by the unwitting O’Shea two minutes after the restart, and even the introduction of substitutes James McClean, Robbie Keane and Shane Long could not force another breakthrough.
O’Neill said: “I thought we were very dominant in the first-half and deserved to be be in front, and we have absolutely fallen asleep for the goal – even though it is going miles wide – just after half-time.
“We should have closed it down on about three different occasions. But having seen the goal back, it’s hit John on the back and gone into the net when it would have gone wide.”