Russia 0-0 Ireland as it happened

	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
Russia	8	5	2	1	10	4	6	17
Ireland	8	4	3	1	11	6	5	15
Slovakia	7	4	2	1	6	4	2	14
Armenia	7	3	2	2	13	7	6	11
Macedonia	7	1	1	5	5	9	-4	4
Andorra	7	0	0	7	1	16	-15	0

Full-time wrap:

Finally, a chance to breath. How Ireland managed to escape with a 0-0 draw is beyond me. Credit must go to Ireland for some outrageously courageous and brave defending, but to concentrate on that would overlook how dominant Russia were and just how far behind we are in terms of quality.

Before we go any further, we must pay tribute to Richard Dunne, who was a giant at the heart of the back four and whose performance should draw credible comparisons to Paul McGrath's tour de force against Italy in USA '94. Shay Given was also outstanding and there were decent showings from O'Dea and McGeady (defensively).

Whether it was a personnel or a system error that was at fault is up for debate, but questions need to be asked. We'll leave you with a look at the Group B table, which fortunately, leaves us with a with a fighting chance of making it to Euro 2012 next summer. Thanks for tuning in. Bye for now.

FULL TIME: RUSSIA 0-0 IRELAND

We're into injury time, of which there will be three minutes.

I know I've said this a few times during this game, but how in the hell did that not go in. Zyryanov's header from four yards out is kept out by the legs of Given and then Keith Andrews slides in to prevent an onrushing Russian from slamming home the rebound. Ridiculous stuff.

Via Balls.ie: Richard Dunne's new jersey.

Turns out that quiet period a while ago was the eye of the storm. Ireland under siege once again, Semshov and Bilyaletdnov with excellent chances for Russia, but absolute desperate defending means that it remains 0-0.

On the pitch meanwhile, Bilyaletdinov skies the ball over the bar from inside the box. Another let off. Seven minutes normal time remaining.

"I think the Dunne shirt is the most embarrassing Irish sporting moment ever. We're a laughing stock," says Will from Malahide.

And Dunne the goliath makes another immense clearance. Number or no number, he's been outstanding.

This is actually true. Richard Dunne has had the number five drawn onto his new jersey because he had to put on a new jersey which had no number on it.

15 to go and it's still goalless. Amazing. By the way Richard Dunne will miss the next game after that yellow card.

Everton's Bilyaletdinov on for Zhirkov for Russia.

Despite winning the ball, Dunne is shown a yellow after getting to his feet. There's blood on his face and he's not back on the pitch yet...he is now.

Dunne with a whopper of a challenge on Yuri Zhirkov on the left touchline. Both Dunne and Zhirkov in the wars after it after falling on the running track. Dunne got a smack right in the kisser and is still down. We cannot afford to lose him for the last 20 minutes.

Pressure has eased the last few minutes, but Russia are still well in control. Crowd have gone quiet, it's time to strike while the iron's somewhat lukewarm Ireland.

Robbie Keane heads the ball over the bar from a Stephen Hunt free-kick, but you could barely even call it a half chance.

Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan finally touch the ball, and inevitably it goes straight back to Shay Given.

Stephen Hunt about to come on for Ireland, Damien Duff going off.

Niall Delaney in touch again: "Cox loving Trap strikes again. Cox for Doyle what a joke. Trap is just a clown."

Ward gets an opportunity to cross from an excellent position after a mazy run by Aiden McGeady down the left, but blazes it over the bar instead. Sums up his evening, to be honest.

Ger Canty has been in touch to "proclaim that he'll happily take just 1 million a year to take the job once Trap gets the boot".

How noble of you Ger, how very noble indeed.

Simon Cox comes on for Kevin Doyle, who is not a happy camper. Is Cox the answer?

Semshov with another great chance for Russia, but instead of shooting he decides to square the ball to... nobody. Kelly did well not to dive in and give away a penalty.

Not content with what he's seen up the pitch, Richie Dunne makes a run upfield, gets fouled but doesn't get the decision, but still manages to get back to make an interception from Arshavin. Class.

Pavlyuchenko on for Kerzhakov for Russia. Advocaat going for the jugular early. The Spurs man gets a big reaction from the home crowd.

Corner number eight for Russia. Pattern of first half has repeated itself in first eight minutes of second half.

Plenty of reaction to the game on our Facebook page. General consensus is Dunne, Duff and Given good; Whelan, Andrews and Ward bad. Add your two cents here.

WHAT a tackle by Richard Dunne yet again. The Honey Monster has been immense.

First it was rugby, now GAA lads are having their say on the game. Meath's Joe Sheridan aka SquareCut84 tweets: "Does anyone one else think trap hasn't a clue?? plays the most negative football since the days of hayestown utd! #trapout

No changes by the way. Christ!

Nice moment of comic relief from Liam Brady. Bill: "So are we optimistic for the second half?"

Liam: "Seems as if we're not even coming out now Bill."

Thankfully the Irish lads did come out. Second half underway.

Even the rugby lads know the score. Leinster's Fionn Carr tweets: "Richard Dunne some defender, he's keeping Ireland in the game!" Nearly ready to go for the second half.

The RTE panel are calling for McCarthy and maybe even Hunt to be introduced at the break. Can we expect that from Trap though, who is notoriously reluctant to make early substitutions, apart from in Bari against Italy a couple of seasons back, when Caleb Folan came on for Andy Keogh in the first half. We'll soon see.

Dunne and Given have been keeping us in this game, while Duff and McGeady have had their work cut out trying to stem the tide on both flanks. Eamon Dunphy reckons we need a conductor to dictate the tempo in the middle of the park and certainly Andrews or Whelan are not the answer.

Robbie O'Neill from Ballinteer says: "We are making the Russians look like Barcelona. Get McCarthy on".

Would he be able to make a difference in the face of such domination? Still, something has to be done, a change of formation, personnel, anything but this.

HALF TIME: RUSSIA 0-0 IRELAND

Niall Delaney reckons that "Ireland have not been dominated like this in ten years...a complete shambles thus far...Whelan and Andrews may as well be sitting at home in Dublin, are they actually on the pitch?"

Hard to argue with that Niall. In the meantime the half-time whistle has been blown, which is an absolute godsend.

Jesus! Zhirkov has a go from a corner that Given keeps out at the near post. Zhirkov follows it up with a deadly cross that Ireland clear only for Arshavin to rattle a shot back in that flies narrowly over. Ireland are so under siege they should be calling Steven Seagal in for help.

Finally, something resembling an attack from Ireland, but it ultimately comes to nothing. The one-way traffic resumes.

How did that stay out? Semshov has the goal to aim at fro six yards out after brilliant work from Zhirkov down the left wing, but Richard Dunne makes a desperate, but brilliant block to keep it out. Hanging on by a thread here folks.

More good defensive cover from McGeady on the left wing, the full back Anyukov causing problems yet again. Just after that, he flashes a shot over the bar from 35 yards.

There's only half an hour gone, but the level of Russian pressure is almost the equivalent of a team going for broke in the dying minutes, they're that dominant.

Stephen Ward getting a lot of flak on Twitter, but Miguel Delaney reckons we should go easy on him.

"Ward getting lot of criticism. Bear in mind it is his first competitive away game, as bad/exposed as he's been."

Ignashevich with a free-kick from distance that trickles harmlessly wide. It's all Russia so far, though.

Given follows his save up with some poor 'keeping, letting a harmless shot slip through his fingers and out for a corner. Claims the inswinging delivery well to redeem himself.

Another very good save from Given, Semshov with the effort from the edge of the box after yet another attack down the Russian right wing. Poor connection from Semshow but bouncing ball made it difficult for Given, who did well to palm it away. Ominous signs for Ireland.

Aleksei Berezutski is stuck to Damien Duff like sh*t to a blanket. Doesn't help that he knows he's always going to cut in on his left when stationed on the right flank.

Arshavin looking a lot more confident than he has for Arsenal lately, but Stephen Kelly puts him in his place with a good old fashioned challenge. More of that required.

After an even enough opening, Russia are now starting to turn the screw. We're giving the ball away at will and inviting the Russians on to us.

Semshov rattles a ball across the six yard box but nobody on the end of it, again the danger came from Ireland's left side, which has looked dodgy so far. Ward has been caught up the pitch a few times already with McGeady doing well to cover.

Kevin Doyle with Ireland's first effort of note, a speculative effort off his weaker left foot from 25 yards. No real power and straight at the 'keeper, but a shot on target nonetheless.

O'Dea cuts out a good ball from Anyukov from the right wing. The Leeds man has made a confident start at the heart of the defence.

Very good save from Given after a decent effort from Arshavin from the edge of the box. Very, very close for Russia.

Decent-ish start from Ireland. No signs of being overawed so far anyway.

Signs that Robbie Keane will drop back into midfield to form a central three and help out Whelan and Andrews. Very few incidents of note in the first three minutes.

We're underway...

Both captains reading out a fair play message to the fans and making a bit of a balls of it by trying to read it simultaneously. Arshavin's Russian lilt and Keane's Dublin brogue do not make for a good hybrid accent at all. Anthems done and dusted, we're ready to go.

Liam Brady says a draw at least and Dunphy says he expects a result and maybe even a win. Studio more optimistic than usual, is it justified?

An old colleague of ours in the JOE office, Frankie McCann, has been overcome by a sudden wave of optimism:

"10mins to Kickoff. All of a sudden, I think we can definitely win. That may change ever few minutes, but I'm confident at the moment #IreRus."

Teams on their way out in Moscow...

That's more like it from Kevin Patterson, who had this to say on our Facebook page.

"ireland 2-1 russia. the pressure is on and the lads will come up trumps and plus im sure they are use to playin astro on a tuesday night with the lads so tonight will be no biggy to them!"

Liam Brady: "We don't see comfortable at home, the good news is we seem to be more comfortable away from home."

The RTE panel are just after showing a clip from the Italia '90 qualifying campaign in an attempt to illustrate how Ireland should play this evening. Were there seriously no examples of positive play from the last 21 years?

RJayDee had this to say on the auld Twitter: "1735 miles away from home, Plastic pitch, key players injured, Keith Andrews fit...it's all against us, C'mon you boys in green! #RusIrl".

Love the optimism RJayDee, wish it was shared by more of your countrymen.

An early snap of the Irish fans outside the stadium. No picture of Moscow would be complete without those hats, which to our knowledge, are called Ushankas. They shouldn't be that necessary by the way, according to RTE's Peter Collins, it's 12 degrees without a hint of a breeze.

For those of you that know your Russian football, five of the starting XI ply their trade for Zenit St. Petersburg, who are currently sitting pretty at the top of the Russian Premier League table. Three play for CSKA Moscow, who are second, one plays for third-placed Dynamo Moscow and another, Yuri Zhirkov, is teammates with Samuel Eto'o at Anzhi Makhachkala, who are currently in fifth.

The odd man out? Andrey Arshavin, currently in the middle of an alarming slump in form for the Gunners.

For those of you who need reminding:

Ireland: Given, Kelly, O'Dea, Dunne, Ward, McGeady, Whelan, Andrews, Duff, Keane, Doyle.

And the Irish subs, to be closely followed by the first XI of course.

Westwood, Foley, Delaney, Lawrence, Hunt, McCarthy,Cox

Here's the Russia team folks...

Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Vasili Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich, Aleksei Berezutski, Igor Semshov, Roman Shirokov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Andrey Arshavin (C), Yuri Zhirkov.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to typing the names of that lot repeatedly over the next couple of hours.

More from Ken Early on that fantastic looking sandwich he tweeted a picture of earlier on. "it looked fkn delicious in fairness. had a fried egg in it and chips around the other side of the tepee it came in". Mmmmm...

Well folks, Conor Heneghan here from now until the end of the game in Moscow. Mad props to Emmet Purcell for holding the court for the last few hours. Just under an hour to go until kick-off and judging by the mood here in the office and from the comments on our Facebook page, an overwhelming sense of dread and negativity continues to hang over this game.

The latest prediction comes from Philip Gleeson, who says: ?"2-0 Russia. But I hope not. Play some football lads. The Donegal way is not the way...".

You'll be glad to know Philip that, because we'll be playing on astroturf, both teams must keep at least one player in the opposition half at all times and the goalkeepers aren't allowed outside their box. Unfortunately, though, you have to also be in the opposition half to score so there'll be no spectacular efforts from the halfway line and beyond.

Excellent tweet just came in from Ken Early (@kenearlys): "Member of irish press corps asked at hotel for a sandwich to take to the game. they gave him this pic.twitter.com/YkLNl7x". We wonder what Roy Keane would make of that?

We posed a simple question to The Times European correspondent Gabriele Marcotti in his afternoon webchat today, "Do you reckon Ireland can beat Russia?" In his words, "Yes. But will be tough". Nothing we didn't already know then!

Russian midfielder Dmitriy Torbinskiy, teammate of Aiden McGeady at Spartak Moscow, has told Uefa.com of the "potent" threat that Ireland possses. Eh, us?

"Russia managed to win last time but I do not agree with those who consider us favourites," he said. "Ireland play British-style football, and Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Aiden McGeady are a potent attack."

Paul Divilly and his giant balls of steel have weighed in the boldest prediction yet for today's match on our Facebook page: "10-0 Ireland!!!" Hmm.. maybe not Paul but we love your enthusiasm!

Great tweet from a worried Irish fan @paulski1983 here: "Dentist appointment scheduled so I will miss 2nd half of Ireland v Russia. Dont know which one will be more uncomfortable".

In response to a comment from 'irishwinters2000' in the comments section below, who asked "so what's the craic with the table, how does this need to play out?", we'll say that Ireland need a result and preferably 3 points.

Ireland and Slovakia are both on 14 points right now, two below Russia, while Ireland are ahead of Slovakia if it comes to a tiebreaker.

Crucially though, Slovakia will play Russia at home in October and already beat them 1-0 away. If Ireland lose tonight and as expected, Slovakia beat Armenia at home, we'll be 1 point outside of second place and need Russia to beat Slovakia so we can effectively settle for the play-offs again.

If we lose to Russia tonight, we'll need to rely on favourable results and hope for the play-offs, while we'll actually go ahead of Russia if we win and could challenge for first place with two games to go.

Another 0-0 and a 3-0 to Russia prediction now. Please Trap, look away now if you're reading this tracker.

According to our Facebook fans Johnny Mannion and Ferg Ramberg, we'll end up with a respective 3-1 defeat or a dull 0-0 draw. As for Conor Heneghan in the JOE office, it'll be 1-1. Hmm, maybe he's not quite so optimistic as we thought.

We're asking users over on our Facebook page for their predictions for the big game. 1-0 to Russia is the 9/2 favourite with the bookies.

There's a lot of optimism about today's match on Twitter though, with the aptly-named @dj_madd tweeting: "Expecting a cracker russia v ireland today, robbie keane to get a hatrick :P". We're going to assume that the ":P" was a sign he was being sarcastic.

If anybody's worried about any late drops from the starting line-up in Robbie Keane or Shay Given, it certainly isn't Trapattoni, who provided an excellent assessment of both player's mental and physical condition yesterday in his inimitable style:

"Shay Given is very responsible. We asked him and I think he is a man. I have told him and Robbie 'you are the doctor, not the doctor. You can decide". Makes sense.

There's a lot of overwhelming negativity in the JOE office this afternoon, with the exception of Conor Heneghan, who coincidentally will be tracking the game when it starts at 4pm in his usual cheery fashion.

It should be mentioned though that we've never won on our three previous visits to Moscow, nor have we beaten a team seeded above us for 10 years. Although as Conor has mentioned, we did beat France over 90 minutes in that World Cup play-off second leg, before Thierry Henry made us cry.

No matter your levels of optimism for today's game, surely we can all agree that away games that offer stereotype-exploiting photocalls are always brilliant? Here's Doyle, Hunt and Long standing beside their bizarre Russian doll doubles:

[pic via Balls.ie]

It's me, Emmet Purcell, with you from now until about 3pm, and Conor Heneghan will then take over for the game itself. I'll be bringing you all the build-up, tweets and predictions.

Two of the JOE crew, Niall Delaney and Shane Breslin, have been coming at this from opposite points of the spectrum.

Niall reckons it's time for change - by binning Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews and Trap himself to name but three. Shane, on the other hand, is allowing himself to hope. Much of that seems to be based on the fact that one change from the Irish team that lost to Russia last year is the absence of Paul Green from today's starting XI.

How do you reckon today will pan out? Let us know in the comment section below, by emailing shout@joe.ie or sending us a message on Twitter (we're at @manstuffjoe) or Facebook.