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50 Sport maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL James McClean strikes to sink Austria and send Ireland top of group MCCLEAN'S 48th-minute strike settled a hard-fought game in which Ireland were forced on to the back foot for long periods, but hit their hosts ruthlessly on the break to silence the locals at the Ernst Happel Stadium. The win leaves the Republic with 10 points of a possible 12 from their opening four quali- fiers and firmly in the Group D mix ahead of their showdown with Wales in Dublin in March next year, a game which key man Robbie Brady will miss through suspension. Victory in Vienna brought down the curtain on a successful 2016 for manager Martin O'Neill and his players, and they will re-assemble next year confident that they are continuing to grow as a team, albeit one which still requires further polishing. The forecast 20cm of snow overnight in Vienna thank- fully failed to materialised and O'Neill's injury problems abated with McClean able to start after recovering from a back problem, while there was a competitive debut for fellow midfielder Har- ry Arter, putting to bed once and for all rumours that he could opt for England instead. There were returns from con- cussion and suspension respec- tively for Brady and Jeff Hen- drick, but with Shane Long and Daryl Murphy both injured, a shortage of strikers meant a start up front, rather than the usual auxiliary midfield role, for Jona- than Walters. In the event, Walters was to see rather too little of the ball where it mattered during an opening 45 minutes dominated by the home side, who knew anything but vic- tory could prove hugely damag- ing to their qualification hopes. With Skipper Julian Baumgar- tlinger and dangerman David Alaba conducting from deep, it was they who played the more f luent football, leaving Ireland to feed off scraps. For all their greater share of the possession, however, Austria were unable to create clear-cut chances until a f lurry of activity just before the break. Striker Marc Janko might have troubled keeper Darren Ran- dolph more than he did with a fifth-minute shot and a header 10 minutes later, and he blazed high and wide after latching on to a weak Shane Duffy clearance with 26 minutes gone. The Republic too created a se- ries of half-chances with Mc- Clean seeing a 13th-minute effort def lected just over the an- gle of bar and post and Walters glancing a 31st-minute header just wide after Duffy had tum- bled inside the penalty as he tried to meet an Arter corner with Russian referee Sergei Karasev unmoved. However, both sides were grate- ful for the intervention of the woodwork as the half drew to a close with Marcel Sabitzer unfortunate to see his delicate 39th-minute chip over the ad- vancing Randolph come back off the bar and Walters clipping the top of the bar at the other end from Brady's inviting cross. Ireland returned knowing they would have to create more of a threat if they were to avoid a 45-minute onslaught, and it was they who broke the deadlock with less than three minutes on the clock. Austria had resumed where they had left off, but were caught after losing possession deep in enemy territory and Wes Hool- ahan exploited the space they had left behind to the full with a slide-rule pass which sent Mc- Clean racing towards goal. The West Brom winger, who scored twice in Moldova last month, still had plenty to do, but his left-foot shot across keeper Ramazan Ozcan was unerring to send the 3,200 travelling sup- porters among a crowd of 48,500 into raptures. Ireland thought they had ex- tended their lead three min- utes later when Walters headed Brady's free-kick past Ozcan, but he did so from an offside posi- tion. But recent contests between the two sides have been tight and this was to prove little dif- ferent as Randolph produced an outstanding f lying save to deny substitute Louis Schaub from distance before Alaba squan- dered a free-kick from a promis- ing position. However, the Bayern Munich man served warning that the game was far from over with 25 minutes remaining when he sent a dipping long-range effort onto the roof of Randolph's net with the keeper back-pedalling anx- iously. Having conceded late Alaba goals in each of their past two matches against the same op- position, there was relief when Randolph safely fielded defender Aleksandar Dragovic's def lected 90th-minute strike. Janko should have levelled deep into injury-time, but headed criminally wide from Baumgar- tlinger's drive across the box as Ireland survived. Other results Marcelo Brozovic scored both goals as Croatia opened up a gap at the top of Group I with a 2-0 win over nearest rivals Iceland. Heading into the match level on seven points, the Inter Milan midfielder handed the hosts an early advantage with a 15th-min- ute curling, def lected effort. But he had to wait until added time at the end of the match for his second, and even the subse- quent dismissal of Ivan Perisic made no difference to the out- come. Turkey registered their first victory of the World Cup quali- fying campaign with a 2-0 win over newcomers Kosovo, with Burak Yilmaz and Volkan Sen scoring within four minutes of each other just after half-time. Austria suffered a blow in Group D after their first loss to the Republic of Ireland since 1963 courtesy of James Mc- Clean's third goal in two matches left them six points behind their opponents. Moldova registered their first point of the campaign with a 1-1 draw in Georgia as Alexandru Gatcan's 78th-minute goal can- celled out Valeri Qazaishvili's early effort. Republic of Ireland's James McClean celebrates after scoring against Austria Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic celebrates after scoring against Iceland