Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill knows the value of getting early points on the board in a tough qualification campaign.
His side booked their spot at Euro 2016 via the play-offs having edged out Scotland to finish third behind Germany and Poland.
The Irish started that campaign by collecting three points in Georgia, with Aidan McGeady netting a last-gasp winner for a 2-1 away win.
Now, O’Neill takes his men to Serbia for another tough group opener in Belgrade. In a group that also contains Austria, Wales, Georgia and Moldova every point could be vital says the Irish boss.
“Nobody will run away with this group at all. It will be very tight. Every point is valuable,” he told reporters.
“We, in our European campaign, won the opening game against Georgia, which became a very, very important three points for us, and any team that wins away from home in this group will do very well.”
Despite the admission that each and every points gathered is likely to be priceless, O’Neill says there is little chance his team will aim for a draw in Belgrade.
“From our viewpoint, I don’t think it’s possible to start to play for a draw, but I think in this competition, I feel it will be so tight, so, so tight, that every point is going to be valuable,” he added.
Ireland are 4.20 to win against Serbia, the home side are 2.00 while the draw is 3.20.
The Republic’s all-time leading scorer Robbie Keane hung up his international boots after last week’s friendly win over Oman but O’Neill believes younger members of his squad such as Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick can learn from the LA Galaxy forward.
“I think that every one of the players, the younger players in particular, should take bits of his game, his preparation for matches, take all those things into consideration and try to learn from him.
Those players who aspire to score goals in our team should particularly take notice of that,” he said.
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