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Republic of Ireland 2

Lithuania 0

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JACK Charlton last night blasted his Republic of Ireland side for a

dismal second half performance that let Lithuania off the hook with only

a 2-0 defeat in Dublin.

''That was our worst performance in a very long time,'' said Charlton.

''We won't get away with that kind of thing against Spain here next

month.

''I'm not naming names, but I've had a word in the right ears and, for

certain, nobody was ready to answer me back.''

Ireland were two goals up in 25 minutes against the minnows from the

Baltic state and looked on course for a record-breaking win to emulate

the 8-0 demolition of Malta 10 years ago.

But they inexplicably ran out of ideas in the second half, and

Lithuania could have hit back on several occasions.

Charlton said: ''I would have settled for 2-0 at the start but, once

you go two goals ahead so early, it's disappointing to end up with only

that.

''I thought we could have shown a lot more imagination around their

box. It seemed we were just content to float long balls in and look for

headers.

''I won't be too hard on the boys. They've done it for me in the past,

but I've got to say this was not a good performance. A lot of players

got it wrong, and they know who they are.''

Although Charlton did not name the guilty men, he took off striker

Niall Quinn 17 minutes before the end after he missed two glaring

chances and failed to make any impact during the second half.

Albania, bottom of the group, later went down by a single goal to

Denmark, who are now one point behind the Irish.

Charlton's team are at home to Spain on October 13.

* WALES boss Terry Yorath was a bitterly disappointed man after his

team's 2-2 draw with the RCS left their World Cup fate lying in the

hands of other teams.

And he was also frustrated by the refereeing decision which allowed

Peter Dubovsky to strike the superb free kick which notched the RCS's

second goal in Cardiff.

Wales needed to win this match and home games in the next two months

against Cyprus and Romania to get through to finals in the USA.

Now they are relying on other teams dropping points. Yorath said of

Spanish referee Juan Roca's decision to penalise Eric Young: ''That

could cost us a place in the World Cup and me my job -- but who cares,

it's all part of the game.

Wales fell behind in 16 minutes to a goal from Pavel Kuka, but surged

back to take the lead with goals from Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush -- and

looked set to grab the two points until Dubovsky's free kick.

* NORTHERN Ireland manager Billy Bingham praised the performance of

Jimmy Quinn after his team's 2-0 Group Three World Cup qualifying win

over Latvia in Belfast.

The 34-year-old Reading striker opened the scoring in 33 minutes and

Bingham said: ''Quinn's work rate was phenomenal. I took a chance on

using him in midfield and he was involved in everything.''