Josh Cullen believes Ireland’s sloppy performance in Yerevan is just a ‘bump in the road’.
And the Anderlecht midfielder has stressed the need to perform against Ukraine on Wednesday and not see the momentum of last year derail.
Cullen thought he was going to miss the Armenia game because of suspension but that was dramatically chalked off earlier in the week.
“I thought I was suspended until Monday of this week,” he said last night.
“There was some confusion between FIFA and UEFA, so I then got told by the manager on Monday evening that I could travel with the squad. I was delighted to be involved.
“If I was suspended, the manager wasn’t going to make me travel but I wanted to play so was delighted to be available.
“But I’m very disappointed with the result and how we played overall.
“We struggled to break them down and weren’t as solid as we should have been, definitely on the counterattack.
“We had prepared for Armenia to play 4-4-2 but seeing their team-sheet it was clear they’d go 5-4-1, sit in and try to frustrate us.
“They wanted to catch us on the counterattack. We didn’t deal with that well enough in possession or out of possession.
“Disappointment is the overriding emotion but we’ve to pick ourselves up for Wednesday.”
Ukraine face Wales in the World Cup playoff final in Cardiff today before travelling to Dublin to face Ireland on Wednesday.
And the Boys in Green also host Scotland on Saturday.
Culen added: “We’ve to make sure that it’s only a bump on the road.
“There’s three big games to come. We’ve made good strides over the past year and can’t allow this result to knock us back.”
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