The Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying hopes suffered a major dent on Tuesday night after The Green Army lost 1-0 to Serbia at the Aviva Stadium.

Aleksandar Kolarov lashed home the only goal of the game ten minutes after halft-ime, meaning Martin O’Neill’s side drop down to third in group D.

With only two games remaining, this was the worst possible time for O’Neill to lose his first competitive game on home turf, especially after Wales’s late victory in Moldova to leapfrog the Republic.

It all means that Ireland will probably need to beat Chris Coleman’s side in Cardiff next month to secure a play-off spot for the tournament in Russia.

Two changes from Georgia draw

O’Neill made two changes after a frustrating and fortunate 1-1 draw in Georgia on Saturday night. Both came in midfield, as Wes Hoolahan and David Meyler were drafted into the side, replacing Harry Arter and Glenn Whelan.

Ireland certainly had a more offensive look about them, with captain Jonathan Walters providing support for Shane Long up front. Behind them, Hoolaham was deployed at the tip of a midfield diamond, in what looked like a 4-1-2-1-2 formation.

In contrast, Serbia, who topped the group at the start of the night, made four changes to the team which started their victory over Moldova. Former Nottingham Forest keeper Vladimir Stojković was recalled to the side, as were defenders Jagos Vuković and Antonio Rukavina plus Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojević.

Cagey first half ends goalless

It was the visitors who carved out the first real opportunity when Shane Duffy blocked Nemanja Matić’s effort after just three minutes.

Even so, the Irish had the better of the early exchanges, and looked the most likely to open the scoring. Duffy, who scored in Tbilisi last time out, thought he’d registered again after 10 minutes, though his header was rightfully ruled out for offside.

Moments later, Walters released Long down the left channel and the Southampton man cut inside of Branislav Ivanović. With little support, Long tried his luck with an speculative right foot effort which Stojković tipped over the crossbar.

The visitors grew in confidence as the game wore on, though, and created the best chance of the first half on 33 minutes. Dušan Tadić received possession on the edge of the area and slipped a well weighted pass into the path of Filip Kostić. With green shirts around him, the Hamburg winger cut the ball back for Aleksandar Mitrović, whose stabbed effort towards goal was clawed out by Ireland keeper Darren Randolph.

Serbia find a breakthrough

Despite their tenacity and aspirations to get forward, Ireland were wasteful in the final third and they were made to pay ten minutes after the restart. A short corner into the host’s penalty area was only half cleared, and when the ball fell to Kostić on the edge of the Ireland box the Serbian cleverly rolled a pass to the overlapping Kolarov. With Walters in pursuit, the former Manchester City man rifled the ball in off the crossbar, leaving Randolph no chance.

O’Neill responded by throwing on Daryl Murphy for Hoolaham just after the hour mark, and the 34-year-old striker made an immediate impact. Within five minutes of coming on, Murphy latched onto a hopeful ball forward from the Irish before being chopped down by Maksimović. The Serbian defender was the last man and rightly sent off, however Ireland weren’t able to make their man advantage count.

Stojković didn’t have another save to make until Murphy’s low effort with five minutes to go forced the Serbian keeper into action. In the end it all petered out for the home side, leaving them with a difficult task to qualify for Russia.