Republic of Ireland 1 China PR 0: With his appearances for the Republic of Ireland representing what must be welcome breaks from life at Birmingham where he is clearly unappreciated, Clinton Morrison's move from Crystal Palace three seasons ago looks more misguided than ever after a four-day spell in which he brought his haul of goals in international football to nine in 28 appearances.
Like Saturday's early opener in Tel Aviv, his winner eight minutes from time last night was struck from an acute angle while the striker was under considerable pressure. With his former side back in London run by a manager with sufficient engineering qualifications to have been, quite literally, a rocket scientist, one suspects that Morrison's newly discovered gift for geometry on the hoof would make him quite a favourite with Iain Dowie.
His current form must make him quite popular with Brian Kerr too, for the goal, a wonderfully improvised effort and his fourth in his last six outings, came almost out of the blue. The majority of the 35,222-strong crowd must have just about given up on the Irish winning a game they largely dominated. It was a decidedly low-key encounter in which they were repeatedly disappointing when seeking to put away the chances they carved out for themselves.
If the nation had generally been bemoaning Ireland's timid approach to Saturday's qualifying game in Tel Aviv then what we were treated to last night was at least brighter and more confident. The addition of Andy Reid gave Kerr's side more options and a good deal more creativity when going forward but the far more open nature of the game was the real difference with the locals enjoying time on the ball and consistently finding space into which to run as their opponents took a rather relaxed attitude to picking up their men.
China looked, at times, a little in awe of their opponents, not least beforehand when two of the visiting players simply stood and gaped at Roy Keane during the warm-up. The Manchester United midfielder started the night on the bench but came on early in the second half, the first time he had been used as a substitute since replacing John Aldridge against the Czechs back in June, 1994.
Keane's arrival caused some small confusion as the departing Kevin Kilbane, who had by then taken over as skipper from Kenny Cunningham, attempted to hand him the captain's armband. Deciding, perhaps, that he did not wish to be drawn down that particular road again, the Corkman swiftly passed it on again to Graham Kavanagh who later added the man of the match award to what was then, already a fairly memorable evening.
When in possession the Chinese, effectively a representative team from the country's domestic league, looked technically decent with the midfield showing a capacity to move the ball forward at some speed and Shao Jiayi providing a useful link to the side's lone striker, Li Yi.
The opening half an hour, however, belonged almost exclusively to the hosts with Damien Duff causing as much mayhem as one of Mao's chaotic drives to increase steel production and Ireland's two strikers reaping most of the benefit of his efforts.
Both looked as though they might open the scoring at different points in the first half but neither could quite get the required final touch. In the end the young Sunderland player's effort from 15 yards, after Kilbane had headed down an Alan Maybury cross, was the best either could manage. Kilbane and Reid both hit the target but neither troubled Li Leilei.
Through much of this period it seemed questionable just what Paddy Kenny could be learning about international football at the other end of the field where at times the distance he was wandering off his line suggested he was impatient to get involved and willing to lend a hand in midfield if required.
Chelsea's Petr Cech, however, said recently that the greatest challenge for a goalkeeper was remaining focused when your team was firmly in control and on his fifth appearance for his country, the 26-year-old proved himself top class on that front with a fine save low to his right nine minutes before the break.
Technically it was the visiting side's second attempt on goal for after Kilbane has misjudged his attempt to head a harmless looking cross from the right clear, Hu Zhanim had taken a crack at goal which went so far wide Sun Xiang was able to retrieve it just before it hit the corner flag. The wing back turned the ball back in for Zhano Junzhe to shoot from a good position and Kenny had to get down swiftly to push the ball around the post while another of the visitors closed in the hope of a tap in.
One defensive lapse would hardly make for a bad night but as the second half wore on the Chinese began to acquire a taste for hitting the Irish on the break and there were one of two close scrapes, the most alarming coming nine minutes after the break when Sun Xiang stole a yard on Maybury before curling a shot past Kenny with the outside of his boot that the Sheffield United goalkeeper must have been relieved to see fly just wide.
Maybury, meanwhile, wasn't having the greatest of nights but it was to get much better for the right back late on with his pass to Morrison for the goal followed by a nicely timed intervention.
A late free he conceded might have spilt things but Kenny held onto Wang Liang's driven free.
So Kerr's home record received another boost prior to the arrival here of Israel, France and Switzerland for games that will decide whether or not he and his players go to Germany for the World Cup during the summer of 2006.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Kenny (Sheffield Utd); Maybury (Leicester City), Dunne (Manchester City), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester Utd); Reid (Tottenham Hotspur), Kavanagh (Wigan Athletic), Kilbane (Everton), Duff (Chelsea); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Elliott (Sunderland). Subs: O'Brien (Newcastle Utd) for Cunningham and Miller (Manchester Utd) for Duff (half-time), Morrison (Birmingham City) for Keane (62 mins), Keane (Manchester Utd) for Kilbane (66 mins), Doherty (Norwich City) for Elliott (74 mins). Subs not used: Carr, Finnan, Murphy, McGeady.
CHINA: Li Leilei; Wei Xin, Ji Mingyi, Li Weifeng, ZhangYonghai, Sun Xiang; Hu Zhaniun, Chen Yongqiang, Zhao Junzhe; Shao Jiayi; Li Yi. Subs: Li Yan for Chen Yongqiang (37 mins), Shi Jun for Li Yi and Wang Liang for Wei Xin (half-time), Du Wei for Shao Jiayi (64 mins), Zhang Yaokun for Zhang Yonghai (75 mins), Zheng Bi for Hu Zhanin (85 mins). Subs not used: Jian Li, Zou, Huang, Cao.
Referee: A Casha (Malta).
