Ireland defender Ciaran Clark admits he found it tough to sleep on Monday night following his Euro 2016 own goal against Sweden.
The Aston Villa defender stooped to head a Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cross into the back of the Irish net and gift the Swedes an equaliser.
The game at the Stade de France in Paris finished in a one-all draw and Clark spent much of the night back at the team hotel staring at the ceiling.
“It was disappointing, for me, personally and it’s not nice to be the one who the ball comes off and goes in,” he revealed.
“We were quite comfortable in the game, we were on top and I don’t think we deserved to come away with a draw – we deserved all three points.
“I found it hard to sleep after the game, to be honest, because it was going through my head. But the next day you have to get up and push it to one side.
“You have to focus on the next game and that’s what I’m doing now. You have to concentrate on training and recovery and everything to prepare for the next game.”
Clark says everyone in the Ireland set-up have been hugely supportive since the game, which has allowed him to concentrate properly on the build-up to Saturday’s vital Group E clash with Belgium in Bordeaux.
The Belgians are bottom of the group after one round of games having lost 2-0 to Italy.
“All the lads have said the same – telling me there’s nothing I could have done," said Clark. It’s a natural reaction from a defender to try to stop the ball from going in the goal,” he said.“There was a guy behind me, I tried to get it out of the way and unfortunately it went in.”
These comments were backed up by fellow-Ireland defender Richard Keogh, who is aiming to get back into the team for the Belgium assignment having been dropped by manager Martin O’Neill for the Sweden draw.
“I thought the centre-halves defended very well and I thought Clarkey was unlucky because it’s a natural reaction to try to defend a cross,” said Keogh (below).
“If Ciaran had left it or missed it, there was a Swedish lad behind him.”
Clark is likely to be one of the defenders who will be given the job of stopping Belgium’s rampaging striker Romelu Lukaku in Bordeaux on Saturday.
He knows his opponent well, having marked him in the Premier League, while he also used to play alongside the Red Devil’s back-up front-man Christian Benteke before his big-money move to Liverpool.
“He’s a top individual player; he has power, pace and he’s a good finisher, which he has shown,” said Clark about the prospect of facing Lukaku.
“They have a number of top players and we’ll be looking at them, paying attention to them.”
Clark also revealed that he received a pre-tournament good-luck message from new Villa boss Roberto di Matteo, who takes over the fallen Birmingham giants following their relegation to English football’s second tier.
He said: “I got a phone call from him, it was only a brief call just wishing me all the best for the tournament. Obviously we’ll talk after the tournament.”
