‘It wasn’t pretty’ - Ireland boss Carla Ward offers an honest assessment of first game

Carla Ward says Ireland need to build on Friday’s clean sheet and win over Turkey - but she acknowledged that the performance left a lot to be desired.

Kyra Carusa’s goal deep into first-half stoppage time gave Ward a winning start to her reign, and to Ireland’s Nations League campaign.

But the new boss admitted that the game was “scrappy” as her players adjusted to a new system.

Ward, appointed last month as Eileen Gleeson’s successor, said: “It was scrappy, it wasn’t pretty, was it?

“But I just said it to the players, three points is the most important thing, clean sheets, something to build on.

“They’re playing a new system in a new way and they’re trying to execute what we want.

“And we want to be more aggressive, of course we do. But Turkey made it a certain kind of game didn’t they?

“We just need to keep believing that we can calm down on the ball. And that will come for sure.”

Turkey rarely threatened, bar some late pressure, and one scrambled effort saw the ball dribble wide of Courtney Brosnan’s goal.

“I think it would have been an injustice, I don’t think they caused Courtney any problems,” said Ward of the visitors’ efforts to capitalise on Ireland’s failure to add to Carusa’s goal.

“But it’s a big three points, it wasn’t pretty at all and we want to play in a way that is attractive.

“A few conditions made that difficult tonight. But look we’re happy, clean sheet, three points, we move on to Slovenia.”

Ward opted for a back-four, a change from the three central defenders preferred by Vera Pauw and Gleeson, and that system is here to stay under the former Aston Villa boss.

The perennial Katie McCabe question still lingers, with the Arsenal star lining out at left-back.

Ward would love to play her higher up the pitch, but faces the same problems as her predecessors.

“She is world-class. In an ideal world we get her higher up the pitch, but at the moment we don’t necessarily have too much to cover in that area, so it’s about what’s best for the team,” said Ward.

“But yeah, look, we want to get her higher up the pitch, of course we do.”

She praised official player of the match Denise O’Sullivan, saying: “I went up to her just now and I said to her, what a performance. That performance from her out there tonight was a different level.

“She is a top, top player. She has got an abundance of quality. She was struggling the last 10 minutes, hobbling around, but she has been an absolute joy and pleasure to work with.”

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