Sunday 13 November 2016 17:25, UK
Martin O'Neill praised the strength of his Republic of Ireland side after they beat Austria for the first time in 53 years.
James McClean's second-half winner helped Ireland move top of their World Cup qualification group, having picked up 10 points in their opening four games.
Ireland's first ever taste of victory in Austria has put them in a strong position to qualify for Russia in 2018, but O'Neill admitted it will be a close-fought race.
"Naturally it's a big win because we have defied the odds here this evening. We've won a game here in Austria," O'Neill told Sky Sports after the match.
"I've just been told it's 53 years since we last won. I don't think that's really important - it's about what's happening now and it's three great points for us.
"It's a really great start but I know from our experience in the Euro [2016] campaign, when matches were difficult and we'd lost our fourth game against Scotland - it seemed a long way away but we had to come back.
"We drew with Poland and Scotland but we always felt like we were in it, and that's the same here, even though we have an extra couple of points on the board, I still believe it will be very tight."
Having crashed out of their Euro 2016 group in summer, Austria's year ended with greater disappointment as Ireland upset Marcel Koller's side on Saturday night.
But it was a resolute performance from Ireland, while Austria were abject in front of goal, and the victory was richly deserved despite a nervy start.
"We had to withstand a lot of early pressure from Austria and we gradually got into the game, but it took us a while to do so," O'Neill added.
"[Jonathan] Walters' chance at the end of the first half gave us that spirit to go on, and then we were very strong.
"It's too easy to say there's a great spirit about the team. We have a good strength of character which is very important and is epitomised by players like McClean. He's done brilliantly for us tonight.
"Walters hasn't played all that often for Stoke, but he was brilliant tonight, I could go through the whole team. We have something there which is very strong within the group."
