Heimir Hallgrimsson was left with mixed emotions as he watched the Republic of Ireland scrap their way to a 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw with 10-man Hungary.
Ireland got off to a dreadful start and trailed 2-0 at the Aviva Stadium after just 15 minutes, but goals from Evan Ferguson and substitute Adam Idah either side of Roland Sallai’s dismissal ultimately handed them a first Group F point from their opening fixture.
Hallgrimsson said: “I’m unhappy with the beginning and it was psychologically difficult to be 2-0 down in 15 minutes, but, as the first half went on, I felt we grew in the game so at half-time, we said, ‘We have nothing to lose, let’s go at them’.
“But that’s football. Goals will change games and we conceded two in the early stages, so unhappy with the first half, but listen, it’s not easy to come back from 2-0 down at this level and especially against a team like Hungary that is ranked 30 places above us.
“I give all the credit to the guys for the second half, the character they showed, the bravery and all the effort they put in. I give them a lot of credit for the second half.”
All but dead and buried after goals from Barnabas Varga and Sallai looked to have handed Hungary the points and severely dented Ireland’s qualification hopes before a ball had barely been kicked, they staged a remarkable fightback.
It was far from pretty at times – Ferguson’s 49th-minute equaliser came amid a scramble after Ryan Manning’s free-kick had been parried by goalkeeper Denes Dibusz – but a sustained second-half onslaught after Sallai’s exit finally paid dividends in stoppage time when Idah powered home a header from another Manning cross to send them into Tuesday’s clash in Armenia with some reward.
Hallgrimsson said: “Always if you don’t win, the recovery takes a little bit longer and we need to recover quickly. Now the game in Armenia has even more importance than before.
“We said before this campaign four points would be okay. Our goal was six points and we are obviously disappointed not to have three in our bag.”
Hungary boss Marco Rossi was unhappy with the way the game was refereed by Harm Osmers, and not just because of Sallai’s red card, which was prompted by a rash challenge on Dara O’Shea.
Rossi, whose side host Portugal on Tuesday evening, said: “We arrived at the end of the first half without conceding anything special, to be honest.
“But then, and the decisions in the aspect must be taken in the same way for both sides, the referee probably started to think he was refereeing a wrestling match instead of a football match and it was not in this way according to me.
“When we play at home, I will be really surprised if we have a referee like this today, leaving them killing us in every contact.”
In response, an unapologetic Hallgrimsson said: “If he’s p****d, then he’s just p****d.”
