'The pieces will come together' – New Ireland cap Jack Taylor ...

The Ipswich Town player, capped at Under-21 level, made his senior debut when he replaced Evan Ferguson 11 minutes into the second-half, and it was Taylor who came closest to scoring, with two decent chances.

Hallgrímsson’s predecessor, Stephen Kenny, handed a debut to a player in a Nations League tie and never called him up again (CJ Hamilton) but Taylor, based on his Premier League form for Ipswich, hopes there’s more to come as he suffered no first-night nerves.

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“I have been called up before so I was ready to make my debut then. I am in the best shape of my career at the minute, I am really buzzing that it's finally come, it was a long time coming,” says Taylor, who was an unused sub for one game under Kenny in 2020.

“It's a clean slate for me, everyone is still trying to impress, to keep their slot in the team, so I am delighted with the impact I made and long may it continue.

“He came to a couple of my games where I made an impact for Ipswich, I am obviously glad that it has been shown on the international stage and I am delighted to be called up and finally make my debut and put on that jersey.”

He says the manager’s orders were to make an impression on the game.

“Just come on and make an impact in the game like all the other subs did,” he says of Hallgrimsson’s orders.

“We didn't play like how we wanted to play, we weren't intense enough, it's a squad game, the subs brought the intensity to the game and changed it, in the last 20-30 minutes I thought we had them pinned back. In the end I felt we deserved a draw.

“I’m pretty versatile when it comes to that. I’m comfortable anywhere in the middle. For the last couple of years I’m focussed on arriving into the box late to score more goals as a central midfielder. As a No 10, it’s easier to get into the box.

“I was always going to give it my all for the shirt and team whatever position and I’m just disappointed with the way it ended,” he says, Taylor happy to be part of the four-strong Ipswich presence in the squad along with Chiedozie Ogbene, Dara O’Shea and Sammie Szmodics.

“The three lads coming in in the summer and making such an impact at our club, it's great to see we are being noticed at our club for this team, like Doc said, we have sort of taken over Ipswich which is a good thing, we are used to playing with each other and we can show that more in an Ireland shirt.”

Club duties now loom large before next month’s Nations League window, Ireland looking for at least a draw at home to Finland to avoid relegation, before that testing game away to England.

“Every window is tough. This was a tough game in a tough atmosphere tonight,” he said.

“You won’t get more hostile arenas than that. We’ve got Finland and England in mind. We’ll definitely want to start there with a win and see what we can take to Wembley.

“We’ll take every game as it comes. Hopefully we get the result we want against Finland.

“We’ll be confident against anyone we come up against. Even though the first-half in Greece was tough, we looked comfortable at times in our shape.

“We didn’t panic, As long as we get used to playing with each other, getting used to what the gaffer wants, the pieces will come together and we’ll pick up results.”