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Jonathan Walters warns of 'twists and turns' ahead for Ireland

Jonathan Walters is predicting a nail-biting race for World Cup qualification for Republic of Ireland as their Group D campaign unfolds.

Ireland manager Martin O'Neill said when the draw was made that with Wales, Austria and Serbia in their group, and Georgia and Moldova likely to make life difficult, the road to Russia 2018 would be a tricky one.

Ireland's 1-0 victory over Georgia in Dublin on Thursday represented a hurdle stumbled across, and Walters knows there will be more obstacles along the way.

He said: "We have won, that's the main thing. It doesn't matter how we performed. If it was a knockout tournament, we'd be through to the next round.

"But there's lots of twists and turns, we knew that from the last group [for Euro 2016 qualification]. We beat Germany at home when we had been written off early in the group and I'm sure there will be lots of twists and turns between now and the end of this group.

"There are some good teams in there and we want to be up there facing the likes of Austria and Wales. We want to be in with a shout of qualifying. We don't look too far ahead. If you take your eye off one team, the likes of Moldova, it can be a tricky game if you take those teams lightly."

Ireland face Moldova on Sunday and will be hoping to return from Chisinau having collected seven of the first nine points they have contested.

They will arrive sitting level with Wales, Serbia and Austria on four points, but knowing that any slip-up could prove costly.

Walters said: "Let's hope we are sitting here on Sunday with seven. We always knew it was going to be a tight group. These are the games that you need to win and we will deal with the other ones when they come along."

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