Livid Ireland boss Colin O’Brien slammed the Czech Republic for ‘cheating’ in last night’s feisty clash at the RSC.
Andrew Omobamidele bagged a precious equaliser two minutes from time to set up a mouth-watering final group game against Belgium on Thursday.
Colin O’Brien’s Young Boys in Green know victory over the group leaders will guarantee their ticket to the quarter-finals.
Until the 88th minute in Waterford, that clash was shaping up as a ‘must win’.
But Omobamidele’s goal relieves some of the pressure by opening up alternative qualifying options depending on the result of the Czech Republic-Greece game on the same night.
But Ireland will be without suspended Conor Carty and Festy Ebosele after costly bookings, although the latter’s injury-time dismissal on a second yellow was harsh.
Czech defender Jan Hellebrand went down like a ton of bricks after Ebosele brushed against him.
And en route to the dressing room, the furious Irish attacker booted a slab of water bottles in frustration and flung his jersey into the crowd.
Raging O’Brien said: “The referee has been cheated, the game has been cheated and it’s embarrassing what he did. I’ll not accept one of my players being cheated.”
You cannot appeal a yellow card unless it’s mistaken identity so O’Brien will be without the pair for Thursday’s big showdown.
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“We’ll have to get Tallaght rocking,” said O’Brien. “No matter what happened tonight, that was going to be the case.”
It was a tight opening half with clear cut chances at a premium and Ireland generally had to work harder for what came their way.
O’Brien said: “I think fatigue from both teams showed. At times certain things came off, some didn’t. Tournament football is relentless.
Adam Toula hooked an effort just over the Irish bar while Josef Kozeluh’s rasper from distance was never going to trouble Gavin Bazunu.
Everitt - on the mark against Greece - was then close to doubling his tally for the tournament but his curling 20-yard effort just had too much gas.
If Carty’s rising drive early in the second-half was seen as a sign of things to come, it was misplaced judgement as Czech substitute Vaclav Sejk scored with his first touch.
From a 63rd minute-throw-in, Vojtech Wojatschke was afforded far too much space in the box and skipped past both Seamas Keogh and Furlong.
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Others were also guilty of looking on without putting bodies on the line, with O’Brien admitting: “We knocked off and allowed him too much space.”
Wojatschke’s initial effort crashed off Omobamidele but straight into Sejk’s path and he slammed home before embarking on a Marco Tardelli-like celebratory gallop.
But Ireland’s response offered plenty of encouragement as they worked hard to salvage the night in front of 2,613 supporters.
Two minutes from time, Omobamidele swept home a corner but Ebosele’s sending off soured the night and left O’Brien hopping mad.
The Ireland boss said: “I honestly thought we deserved to win the game. They’re a gutsy bunch, plenty of steeliness and that’s part of our DNA.
“They didn’t panic and deservedly got an equaliser. The response was calm and measured.”
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