Crawford full of praise for hat-trick man Vata
San Marino 0 Ireland 7
A record breaking, ruthless Republic of Ireland under-21s earned a valuable three points in the race for Euro 2025 qualification and manager Jim Crawford was full of praise for his troops as they sit second in Group A, just a solitary point behind Italy - who had a 2-0 win in Latvia.
“I thought the boys were fantastic,” said the 50-year-old. “It’s a different type of pressure in those types of games. As we spoke about before, complacency and it was important not to get complacent because at international football, that could hurt you.
“We know quite well some stage San Marino are going to get a draw or a win against somebody, so we just needed to make sure it wasn’t against us. It was a real disciplined performance in terms of us being in possession and to the letter of the law carried out the game plan, which was excellent.
"But I’m not surprised with the group we have, they’re a real talented bunch and the pity for me is that I couldn’t get everybody on the pitch. They have worked hard whether it be on the pitch or team meetings, and we got our just rewards.”
Hat-trick hero Rocco Vata, a brace from Sinclair Armstrong and well-taken finishes from Andy Moran and Armstrong Okoflex gave Jim Crawford's men a morale-boosting victory, and the young Celtic star deservedly came in for some praise from his delighted boss, adding: “Rocco’s been excellent all week.
"He’s certainly a goal scorer, he scored two against San Marino at Turner's Cross and he certainly has ability.
"He’s still learning the game, and will do that at Celtic. They’ll help him a lot but also at international football, which is a little bit different than club football, we’ll help him too,” said Crawford.
"He’s certainly a
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