Playing for NI tonight.. Only listened on the radio but they started well..sadly Hodson made a poor backpass for the Republic's 2nd goal and Thompson got sent off for a professional foul trying to make up for a mistake by another Irish defender! Shame for these 2 lads..hopefully won't dent confidence and ruin their chances at International level but then at least its not for us in an important match. It doesn't help NI generally their teams number of caps is less than Given and Keane put together for Eire.
The on-line coverage of this game is minimal - yes I saw Thompson had been sent off, but I couldn't see any information. Bad luck Adam, you need a rest so that you can face next season refreshed!
And it looked like Lee Hodson was played at left back!! And he was at fault for goal #2 Bad luck boys
It's all experience and at a higher level so should be good for them - not as if they were expected to "carry" the team
A cap is a cap. Not sure either of them will take too much else out of it, but it further cements their places in the professional game. Take Lee in particular. He has had his share of criticism, somewhat more than he has deserved I hasten to add. In the worst case scenario, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Hodson could find himself out of contract in a year or two, with 5-10 caps and 100 professional appearances under his belt. Sure, he'll be gutted if that happens, but that's still one heck of a CV for a 20 or 21 year old, and the caps are the icing on the cake that should guarantee, no matter how badly he falters, that there will be professional clubs who want to have a look at him.
