OVER the course of its long history, Plovdiv has been conquered by the Thracians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks
And, now, the Irish.
The travelling army of around 1,000 supporters may not have left their imprint in the city in the same way the Romans did.
But they were able to marvel at something every bit as impressive as the ancient stadium which held 30,000 spectators and whose remnants can be seen beneath the main pedestrian street in the city – a controlled Ireland win.
Robbie Brady may have been the one with blood pouring from his nose but it was Ireland who landed more punches to chalk up the third win of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s reign.
Granted, Bulgaria are no longer the force they were when they reached the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup, with their last appearance at a major tournament coming in 2004.
Nevertheless, Ireland had drawn its last four competitive meetings against them, twice under Giovanni Trapattoni and twice under Stephen Kenny.
And away victories in international football are not easy to come by.
Mick McCarthy’s only triumph on the road in his short-lived second stint as Ireland manager was against Gibraltar.
Kenny’s men saw them off too and also recorded impressive wins over Azerbaijan and Luxembourg but they were at the back end of a campaign which had been doomed by taking just two points from their first five games.
But this came when something other than pride was at stake, leaving Ireland in the box seat ahead of Sunday’s second leg in Dublin as they look to preserve their place in Nations League Group B.
And it was all the more impressive given how they had made life difficult for themselves with the concession of a goal with scarcely five minutes gone.
It was, from the home side’s point of view, a well-crafted goal with Filip Krastev backheeling to Marin Petkov who drilled his shot into the net off the inside of the post.
But, from Ireland’s, the failure to keep tabs on Petkov after Dara O’Shea had left Krastev with nowhere to go was inexcusable.
Thankfully, Bulgaria decided to up the ante in the dire defending stakes with their failure to track runners ensuring they went in at the break behind rather than in front.
That should take nothing away from Ireland’s invention, though. The stadium’s regular tenants Botev Plovdiv are nicknamed the Canaries but it was a Parrott singing the sweetest tune here.
WORTH THE TROY
Hallgrímsson opted to leave Evan Ferguson out with Troy Parrott leading the line with Finn Azaz the chief support act.
And the pair linked up to fine effect in the 21st minute when Robbie Brady sent in a deep cross from the left.
His delivery was met with a cushioned pass from Parrott at the far post which provided Azaz with the simple task of heading into an empty net.
It was not the only time the AZ Alkmaar striker caught the eye, pulling away to the right to allow a free-kick be played short to him.
He drilled the ball across the face of goal with Nathan Collins narrowly failing to get a touch to stab it home.
On another occasion, he made a fine run to the left in a move involving Brady before the threat was eventually snuffed out.
But Ireland were not to be denied with Matt Doherty making a darting run from deep with Josh Cullen spotting him and picking him out despite slipping as he passed on what was a tricky surface.
Doherty was brave to get to the ball ahead of Dimitar Mitov and steer it home with the Aberdeen keeper not reappearing for the second half after he had received lengthy treatment because of the collision which followed.
That the goal was scored by a player whom Hallgrímsson had appeared to discard when he omitted him from his squad for the matches against Finland and Greece in October does raise questions about the consistency of his thinking.
And you could say the same about the sight of Ryan Manning in the starting XI when he had not been named in the original squad.
But he could argue that he saw Manning was a straight replacement for Callum O’Dowda whose place he took after the Cardiff City player was ruled out.
And Doherty’s recent form provided a stronger argument for his inclusion than he had five months back when he was barely featuring for Wolves.
PATTERNS EMERGING
Those in green tucked away in a corner behind fences and netting did not really care whether the performance and result came about by either accident or design.
But there were definite signs in an attacking sense of what Ireland were trying to do in their patterns of play.
And, whilst the level of the opposition and circumstances were clearly different, the reaction to the set-back of an early goal stood in sharp contrast to what happened after Liam Scales was sent off at Wembley in November.
From the team which started against England, Scales, O’Dowda, Jayson Molumby, Festy Ebsosele and Sammie Szmodics were all either injured or suspended with the omission of Ferguson and Mark McGuinness – who did not even make the squad – meaning there were no fewer than seven changes.
Those who started here advanced their claims rather better than those they replaced with Ireland comfortably managing what was a stop-start second half broken up by fouls from both sides, resulting in four bookings apiece.
That suited Ireland just fine as it did not allow Bulgaria – who had nothing other than shots from outside the box to offer before the break – to build up any sort of rhythm or exert sustained pressure on the visitors.
The introduction of Mark Sykes and Rocco Vata, for his debut, brought to 33 the number of players that have featured in Hallgrímsson’s seven games in charge.
That may well rise further in Dublin on Sunday with the uncapped James Abankwah and Jimmy Dunne both hoping to get their chance to shine.
It is a high turnover but nobody will be complaining if the opposition gets turned over as Bulgaria were here.
