David Alaba cursed the luck of the Irish after Austria's damaging 1-0 defeat to Martin O'Neill's men in Vienna on Saturday evening.
James McClean's well-worked goal just after the break settled a tight contest, with the locals left unamused by another disjointed display by their team.
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Austria hit the bar in the first half and spurned a couple of good chances in the closing minutes, but the Republic of Ireland held out to secure a win that put them top of Group D, six points clear of their opponents who lie third in a six-team group.
Though confidence and morale is low, Alaba sounded a rallying call after the game.
"It's not over yet," the Bayern Munich man told RTÉ Sport.
"We want to keep moving, to keep rolling, do out jobs. We have to get closer together as a team. We all want to win the games with our fans at our back and we'll see at the end of the qualification."
"We were very unlucky in some situations. In the second half we had a few chances to score but we were very unlucky.
"The luck was on the other side, with Ireland. They had two chances - one in the first half and the second chance very early in the second half and then they score the goal. They were very strong in defence. Ireland was the lucky team tonight.
"They are standing very good in the group and have a good chance [of qualification]."
