Ireland had to settle for a point against Scotland on Saturday despite presenting by far the greatest goal threat.
Six of the game’s eight saved shots were intercepted by David Marshall, with Shay Given having little to do by comparison.
Shaun Maloney’s deflected equaliser epitomised the large slice of fortune enjoyed by the Scots. Ireland also won 13 corners to the Scots’ 4.
Jonathan Walters’ opener was the fifth goal that Ireland have scored from inside their opponents’ six-yard box, giving them the highest tally from this range of any side in qualifying.
Portugal have four, Romania and Iceland have three, but nobody else has more than two.
They account for half of Ireland’s goals from open play. Of their 12 goals, one was an own goal and one a penalty, leaving ten, of which four were from inside the rest of the penalty area and one from outside it.
None of Ireland’s six opponents in qualifying so far have created more chances than them inside the six yard box.
The Irish defence did a solid job of keeping Scotland out of the danger area, with five of the six shots that their visitors mustered coming from outside the penalty box.
This is in keeping with Ireland’s performances so far. The 58% of opponents’ shots that Ireland have restricted to outside the area is more than any European nation in qualifying except for Italy (61%) and Slovakia (60%), while the average across all 53 of the qualifying teams is 44%.
Ireland have attempted a greater share of their passes into the final third of the pitch against Scotland than against any of their other qualifying opponents so far, suggesting an added motivation.
Saturday's match set a new high for the campaign of 14.9%, beating their previous encounter in Glasgow (13.1%) and sitting around 50% higher than the average of 9.6% from their other four fixtures so far.
After looking uninspiring in possession during the first half, Scotland’s introduction of Ikechi Anya gave them some guile in possession which they had been sorely lacking.
Seventeen of the 23 passes they made into the final third of the pitch came after Anya joined the action in the second half, and of the six they did carve out in the opening period to Ireland’s 21, all but one were intercepted by the Irish defence.
