Keeper Ian McLoughlin came off the bench to save a penalty on his debut and midfielder Conor Hourihane was also in the side as the Republic of Ireland’s U21s drew 0-0 in Cyprus.

McLoughlin replaced Richie Branagan, son of former Town keeper Keith, at half-time and 10 minutes later stopped Andreas Pittaras's spotkick.

Manager Noel King was pleased with 19-year-old McLoughlin, whose contract is up in the summer, although he wasn’t pleased that the penalty was awarded in the first place: "Both goalkeepers kept clean sheets and Ian McLoughlin was obviously pleased to save a penalty that was harsh to say the least and the defence did well as a unit. I've learned a lot and if we can learn this much from every game I'd be very happy.

"We probably had the lion's share of the possession and we created a few half-chances going for a winner but it never came. It was our second clean sheet on the trot and you will always take that, particularly in such warm conditions.”

Hourihane, 20, won his fourth cap before being replaced at half-time. The summer signing from Sunderland's contract is also up at the end of the season.

Town midfielder or full-back Shane O'Connor was forced to withdraw from the squad with appendicitis.

Photo: Action Images

ThatMuhrenCross added 22:16 - Feb 9 Not bad at all. I think he is actually quite a promising keeper. Probably need to start thinking about getting him out on loan for a bit of experience somewhere.
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