Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill insisted his side were "still in contention" for Euro 2016 qualification despite their failure to get three points against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
O'Neill hinted before the game that his side needed to pick up all three points against Gordon Strachan's men to build some momentum in Euro 2016 Group D, but his side failed to build on a first-half opener from Jon Walters as they allowed the Scots to clambered back on level terms shortly after the break.
"We are still well in this competition," argued O'Neill. "Scotland have some difficult games coming up, so there is plenty to play for.
"It makes it more difficult for us to qualify, of course, because it maintains the status quo in the group with Scotland. We are still in contention.
"We had a chance there to win the game and we have spurned that because we could not get enough goals.
"We dominated the first half, got ourselves in front and the goal we have conceded is desperately poor as it was going a mile wide until the deflection."
O'Neill defended his decision to replaced the impressive Wes Hoolahan with Robbie Keane after 73 minutes, as he insisted the veteran striker needed to be given a run off the bench.
"Wes did very, very well in the match, but Robbie is our best goal scorer and there was a chance of him getting a goal," argued O'Neill.
"The players were all getting tired in the final stages of the game and even though we pushed for a winner, we could not get the final breakthrough we needed.
"Wes did very well for us, but I felt Robbie could make a difference and we had to give him a chance, as well as Shane Long in the closing stages."