THERE'S a growing hint of farce about our journey through this qualifying group but there can be no doubts about who the authors of our misfortune are.

A draw against Iceland in Dublin was careless but one slip up along the way always seems forgivable. Yesterday's defeat certainly wasn't and from a position in which, after two games, our chances of qualification looked bright, we now go to Bucharest needing to win if we are to have a serious chance of going through automatically.

The one thing that we might have asked for yesterday was an early goal. When an away team scores early, it has a tendency to dampen the spirit of local supporters and this, in turn, makes it very difficult for the home side.

So when Alan McLoughlin got forward to score the first goal of this game after just eight minutes, it seemed that there could only be one winning team.

It may not have been our strongest possible side but it was difficult to imagine that, with the sort of class some of our players possess, we would not have the wherewithal to take control of the game from that point on.

Instead we immediately started to sit back and relax. There was no obvious attempt to build on our advantage in a positive way and little evidence of any real effort to kill the game.

Against opposition of this quality, there really shouldn't have been any need to start defending a single goal lead with so much of the match remaining and for another 20 minutes or so there still really wasn't a terribly serious threat.

Gradually, though, we allowed the Macedonians to take the initiative in two thirds of the pitch. In front of our goal, the presence of so many defensive players - including the two wing backs and two of the three midfielders - should have resulted in us being far, far more solid.

That both of the goals we conceded in the first half came from penalties was unfortunate for, despite all of the possession they were allowed, the hosts never really looked like scoring from play. However, those are the sort of things that are liable to go wrong if you allow your opponents to bring the game to your doorstep.

Of the two alleged offenders, I felt that Jason McAteer was unfortunate because he had positioned himself well from a defensive point of view and there didn't look to be too much he could have done to avoid making contact. It appeared to be far more a case of ball striking hand than the other way around.

Phelan might have found it slightly harder to explain things to his manager at half time. His basic error was that he got himself into a poor position to defend against the cross and when the ball was played, he threw both his arms up in the air. He may argue about intent but I can't really see how the referee had much choice but to point to the spot.

From that point on we were in trouble. And while most teams would be after surrendering a lead to a side who have, as a consequence, steadily grown in confidence, for us situations like this are always far worse.

At times over the past 10 to 12 years, it has seemed that we moaned about the lack of a player to fulfil some particular role within the side. More consistently, however, what wee have always lacked is any sort of flexibility.

While a better side would have been able to switch things around yesterday, taking on hoard the few, rather limited, strengths that our hosts had shown and looking to exploit their weaknesses, we, as usual, simply plugged away at our same old game.

That game isn't what it was under Jack Charlton but having switched from the tactical direction dictated by one manager we have just taken off in the direction chosen by another. The truth is that in soccer there are sometimes moments when you have to concede the need to change horses in mid stream.

It was clear yesterday that our midfield was not functioning as it needed to and it was there that the root of most of our major problems lay. Neither Roy Keane nor Andy Townsend were able to get control of the ball and there was a hint of tiredness that became more pronounced as the game went on.

The fact that their defence had disintegrated - under the angled cross that led to the first goal might have pointed to a way of getting back on level terms but there was barely one attempt to push the ball wide and swing in a decent cross.

The result was that, when the 90 minutes were up, we had got pretty much what we deserved. Their third goal was fairly good and while a two goal margin would have flattered them, we can have very few complaints about coming away empty handed.

With teams like FYR Macedonia, the points are there to be taken and if you do not measure up to the task there is little point in crying about it afterwards.

Instead, we must simply accept our punishment and get on with it. In our case, that means that now, a day after I said that felt that it was too early to talk about us having to win particular games, we must go to Romania and win.

That will be a lot harder than winning yesterday should have been and there is little that McCarthy can change in order to achieve it. Niall Quinn may have proven his fitness sufficiently to start, while Ray Houghton will, hopefully, be available again. Yet it seems safe to assume that most of the same players that played yesterday will be out there again.

What must change is the approach the team takes. We must be more positive while working together as more of a unit. We need to turn a three man midfield into a five man midfield and we need to start looking like a team that can win again rather than one that might be lucky to get away with a result.

A great deal of self confidence has be restored and a few players whose clubs are already winding down need to be motivated to keep tired legs going for one more big day.

Mick McCarthy has a hard few weeks ahead of him.