England

2-3

Republic of Ireland

Four Nations Tournament,
Tuesday 18 May 2004


Paul Fairclough’s England side began their defence of the Four Nations Tournament with a rather disappointing performance going down 3 – 2 to a lively and skilful Irish side last night in Banff in the far North of Scotland.

It was no surprise when after seven minutes a quickly taken free kick from Cavanagh set Morecambe’s Gary Thompson clear down the right and his precise cross was fired home by Steve Guinan. 

This was a perfect start, not only for England but also for Guinan, who followed up his recent move into the Football League to Cheltenham Town by being chosen by Fairclough as captain on his England debut.

This bright start should have encouraged England to take control of the game but they failed to capitalise and the Irish began to claw their way back into the game.  The England cause was not helped when Peter Cavanagh took a knock and was replaced after 15 minutes by Jake Sedgemore. 

Worse was to follow five minutes later when the white shirted defence failed to clear their lines and a shot from the lively Eamon Zayed was parried by Matt Baker and rebounded of John Flood into the net to bring the Irish a rather fortunate equaliser. 

On the half hour mark England had a claim for a penalty turned down by Welsh referee Phil Southall when Liam Hatch was brought down by Hugh Davey but Southall awarded a free kick just outside the area.

England finished the half strongly with the impressive Guinan going close and a superb break by Perkins should have produced an opening but the Morecambe left back delayed his final pass and the chance was lost.

The second half began with a determined Irish side taking the game to England. Their movement and passing was causing problems for the English defence.  In the 54th minute the Irish captain Daryl Murphy hit the post with a clever chipped shot and the English side were now struggling to maintain their shape as the Irish continued to pour forward. 

Disaster stuck on the hour mark when the Irish scored twice within a minute. Firstly, careless defending by Matt Redmile left Murphy clear in the area and his pass inside to Zayed was fired home. From the restart England again failed to clear the ball and John Russell was allowed time and space to shoot home to put a jubilant Irish side 3-1 up.

Manager Fairclough replaced Sam Ricketts with Glen Southam in an attempt to steady things and to their credit the team rallied and began to push forward in an attempt to salvage some pride. This they did in the 68th minute when the impressive Guinan scored a superb goal from 25 yards out.

He received the ball from Thompson with his back to goal and after making space for himself he turned and fired an unstoppable shot past O’Connor in the Irish goal. 

It was the Irish that looked the more likely to score, with Murphy again striking the woodwork and Rowe’s diving header going just over.  As the final whistle sounded it was a jubilant Irish that were celebrating with this result going some way to erasing their 4 – 0 defeat in the opening match of the 2003 Tournament from their memories.

After the match, England manager Paul Fairclough was philosophical in his summing up. He said: “The better side won on the night, but we really lost the game in the first half, failing to capitalise when we were on top. The Irish started the second half stronger but two very poor defensive errors cost the side dearly. 

“There were good performances from Guinan and Hatch. Overall I had no complaints at the result and to be fair, the Irish could have scored more. We now need to rebuild confidence in the squad before Thursday’s game against Wales.”

With the Scotland and Wales game ending scoreless, all is not lost, but it will take a greatly improved performance by England in the game against Wales to maintain their challenge to retain the trophy.

Team Details

England: Baker, Cavanagh (Sedgemore ), Tretton, Redmile, Perkins, Thompson (Forewa), Ricketts (Southam), Kerr, Sheldon, Guinan, Hatch
Subs not used: McDonnell, Boardman and McNiven