Welcome to the Gary McKay hall of fame, Tornike Okriasvili. You'll find your buddy Valeri Qazaishvili in there.
Yep, those Georgians have again gone and done us a massive favour in drawing away to group favourites, Wales.
We keep drawing them, and we usually just about beat them, giving them enough confidence in narrow defeat to go on and take points off our main group rivals. They beat Scotland in Euro 2016 qualifying, and now they've come from behind to draw with Wales.
Gareth Bale gave the Welsh an early lead:
But Wales failed to build on it, and Georgia more or less owned the second half. They eventually equalised through Okriasvili:
And it could have been so much better. Kazaishvili rattled the crossbar for the Georgians:
WATCH: Georgia's Kazaishvili rattles the woodwork with a thunderous drive! Watch SS1 or https://t.co/QS4SbXYtJg https://t.co/mXFVzTJq9f
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 9, 2016
Prior to kick-off in Moldova, and with Serbia and Austria still to come also, this is how the Group table looks. Should Serbia/Austria end in a draw, and we roll over Moldova, then we'll be at the top of the group:
Georgia who are ranked 137th in the FIFA rankings, hold Wales, ranked 10th in the world to a draw at the Cardiff City Stadium pic.twitter.com/gKVgJzOSst
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) October 9, 2016
Martin O'Neill said pre-game that he's not surprised by the result. Here is a portion of the reaction:
Georgia - the Gary MacKay of the new millennium. Essentially got us to the Euros, now doing their best to get us to a World Cup. #Ireland
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) October 9, 2016
Wales 1 Georgia 1. Another favour from our Caucasian comrades. What a huge incentive for ROI to win here in Chisinau.
— Philip Quinn (@Quinner61) October 9, 2016
Georgia is the gift that keeps giving; they always let us beat them and then help us out against our rivals.
— Neil O'Riordan (@noriordan) October 9, 2016
Now it's time for the boys in Green to do the business. The Irish team selected is here.
