No-one will have been more relieved at their intervention than Ireland skipper Collins, whose blunder had set up Venezia striker Pohjanpalo. Joel Pohjanpalo put Finland ahead (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)However, the hosts were handed a 17th-minute lead when Collins left his back-pass to Kelleher woefully short and Pohjanpalo pounced to beat the keeper with ease. The visitors thought they had levelled within four minutes when Evan Ferguson converted Collins’ knock-down from a Brady free-kick, but the flag had gone up in the meantime. However, Knight tested Hradecky from distance within two minutes of the restart and it took Schuller’s well-timed intervention to deny Ferguson after Scales, Brady and Szmodics had linked fluently. Brady curled the free-kick to the far post where Scales climbed above defender Arttu Hoskonen to head firmly back across Hradecky to level.

Source: The Herald October 11, 2024 09:04 UTC