Shay Given has warned his Ireland team-mates they must raise their level of performance against Switzerland on Wednesday after scraping a 1-0 victory in Cyprus.
Ireland are still in with a firm shout of reaching next summer's World Cup finals, and victory at Lansdowne Road in four days' time will assure them of second place in Group Four, and a play-off.
But the Swiss are likely to present more testing opposition, and after Given saved a penalty to preserve his side's narrow advantage in Nicosia he urged his fellow players to rise to the Swiss challenge.
"We're still in with a great shout and with Lansdowne Road behind us on Wednesday night it should be a great game," he said.
Stephen Elliott scored the first goal of his Republic career - before Given produced his heroics in the 14th minute to deny Ioannis Okkas.
"I was due to save one," said Given. "It's been a while since I saved one. It was nice to save one tonight in a crucial game and it meant a lot - it was important to keep a clean sheet.
"At 1-0 they always had a chance. We know what it's like to concede late goals so we had to concentrate really well towards the end, and I think everyone did that.
"We can play better - we didn't play well tonight, we know that.
"But at least we got the three points, that's important. We can improve on tonight's performance which we'll have to and hopefully get three points against Switzerland."
