HEIMIR HALLGRÍMSSON hailed his comeback kings after they claimed a deserved victory in Bulgaria.
Despite leaking an early goal, headers from Finn Azaz and Matt Doherty ensured they hold the advantage ahead of the second leg of the Nations League play-off in Dublin on Sunday.
After failing to do it in 11 years, Ireland have now come back to win a competitive fixture for the second time in five matches, having also done so in Finland in October.
It was also a positive reaction to their last outing, a 5-0 drubbing against England at Wembley.
Hallgrímsson said: “If you look back, there are not really many wins, not many comebacks from being losing. Finland was the first in a long time.
“I’m really pleased with the character and the discipline we showed. With their goal, I didn’t feel we did anything really wrong, we were just a bit passive in pressing.
“I knew if we did what we had planned in training we would have a good game. The plan was pressing. In the first half we did that but in the second we didn’t.
“We gave them a little bit of the initiative which we should not have done. We need to improve on that.
“Maybe because we were winning, which we haven’t done a lot of lately, you become passive but you should not do that.”
He singled out Doherty – whom he dropped from his squad in October – for praise but insisted that omission had not meant he had written him out of his plans.
He said: “It was a good collective performance but I would say Matt Doherty had a really good game.
“He also scored, it was a fantastic run from deep, from behind, and it was a great header.
“He had a big part in the first goal too, with some quick thinking, a big diagonal to Robbie Brady for the cross. Sometimes the goalscorers get the most attention but he played a big part.
“It was his 49th cap, he could get his 50th back in Ireland, back at home.
“I told you the reason for leaving him out was we were looking for right-backs. We always wanted to have more options.
“All of a sudden we had three players plus one playing in that position. He was fantastic. We ask for our experienced players to share their experience with the younger players.”
Troy Parrott also caught the eye, including teeing up Azaz for the equaliser.
He said: “He’s really good at this game, running in behind. He does it for his club too. It was a good game for him to play.
“Having Finn Azaz behind him helped. That’s why we picked Finn. We thought this game was perfect for him.”
