Jim Crawford admitted that Italy's late, late equaliser in the Republic of Ireland's Euro under-21 qualifier at Turners Cross was "a punch in the stomach", but the Irish manager was full of praise for his side after the 2-2 draw.

The Boys in Green started slowly, but grew into the game and were on the cusp of a crucial three points in their pursuit of a first ever trip to the European Championships at this age grade.

Killian Phillips had put the hosts ahead just after the half-hour mark, only for Italy to equalise from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.

Ireland U21 manager Jim Crawford

Ireland burst out of the blocks after the break to restore their lead with a Sinclair Armstrong effort. But they couldn't hold on as Wilfried Gnonto - who had scored the first equaliser with a spot kick - headed towards goal in the sixth minute of added time, with the ball ending up in the net with the help of a huge deflection.

"It's a punch in the stomach, that's two points we've dropped," Crawford told RTÉ Sport after the game.

"It is disappointing but on the plus side it was a fantastic performance. We knew training here yesterday that the surface isn't conducive to playing football, so we had to be a little bit more direct.

"The players did it to a tee. We worked on set plays, vigorously, during the week. It's not the 11 who started, or the boys who came on, it's the 24 of them because they've worked tirelessly since they came into camp.

"It was a fantastic effort but football can be cruel, can't it? To miss out on those two points is a bitter blow for all that's gone on in the last 11 days.

"Honesty and effort underpins any good performance. That's what it was. It was a tough pitch to play on but each and every one of them can stick their chest out tonight because they did Ireland proud."

The nature of the defeat was frustrating but a surprise loss for Norway against Turkey means that Ireland stay second in the group, a point off the top-of-the-table Italians, with half of their qualifiers played.

Crawford's side had lost 3-2 to the Norwegians on Friday, and a victory this evening would have seen them move two points clear at the top.

A frustrating couple of results for Ireland, but Crawford isn't giving up hope of upsetting the odds and qualifying.

"We're halfway through the group. I thought we were comfortable against Norway and lost the game. There tonight we dropped another two [points].

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves, we've got to kick on. I said it to the players, we learn from that, we learn how to see out games better.

"We're on in March against San Marino and we'll kickstart the second half of the campaign."

For over 45 minutes, it looked like Armstrong was going to be the hero on the night having scored Ireland's second goal.

It wasn't to be however, and the QPR striker admitted that it was a gutting way to draw the match.

"Throughout the 90 minutes I think we were the better side," he said.

"It's unfortunate the way we conceded in the last second of the game, it's very disappointing. You can see the togetherness that Mr Crawford has brought into the squad and we just want to keep going.

"It would have been a brilliant end to the night if we would have won against a nation that's won it so many times but that's football. We're going to live and learn from it.

"Norway and Italy are probably the two biggest nations in the group and I think we showed that we weren't afraid of them. We went toe to toe with them."

Of an altercation after the full-time whistle, which saw players from both squads piling in for some handbags, Armstrong added: "I don't want to get into it but a few words were said and I just didn't like it.

"I'm going to stand my ground. I'm obviously disappointed with the result but we'll go again."

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