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Past year has taught Evan Ferguson to deal with frustration

Evan Ferguson of Republic of Ireland shoots to score his side's equaliser against Bulgaria. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Evan Ferguson is hoping that his superb strike for Ireland against Bulgaria on Sunday night can serve him well when he returns to London and the search for more meaningful minutes at West Ham United.

The Meath man joined the Hammers during the last transfer window after a period of injury and frustration at parent club Brighton & Hove Albion but has found minutes hard to come by under his old Seagulls boss Graham Potter.

Five appearances have been his lot off the bench so far but he started for the Republic at the Aviva Stadium in this second leg Nations League promotion/relegation tie and came up with a brilliant and crucial equalizer in the second-half.

“Definitely. It’s always good to score,” he said when asked about what it could mean for his club prospects. “It’s your job now so…”

Ferguson also saw a good second-half chance saved from distance by the Bulgarian goalkeeper. That was frustrating, he admitted, but then this is a man who had become accustomed to digesting such things and moving on.

“In the past year I’ve learned to deal with frustration, wipe it out of your head and move on to the next.”

His role against the Bulgarians was interesting.

Though wearing the No.9 shirt, Ferguson was paired up front with Troy Parrott and it was the AZ Alkmaar man who stayed further forward. Ferguson dropped deep much more, as he had done under Roberto De Zerbi’s system at Brighton.

“I thought it was alright. We’ve not had much time in training but we have worked on it on the pitch and I played there a little bit before for Ireland I knew it. Me and Troy played well together so it’s just trying to play more in that position and find your way around it.”

His goal came from dropping deep.

The 20-year old took possession of the ball in midfield and took advantage of the space afforded him to drive deep into opposition territory, play a penetrating pass into Finn Azaz and come up with a blistering finish from the resultant one-two.

“We’ve been doing patterns and that in training, different options with Mikey [Johnston] out wide and the opposite then coming in, so it was just [about] driving and Finn picked me back out.” Always a man of few words.

It’s been a good window for him after appearing off the bench in the first leg in Plovdiv last Thursday, and a good window for Ireland who maintain their League B status after this two-legged 4-2 aggregate success.

“It’s been good, two wins from two. I think we were the better side. No disrespect to Bulgaria but I think we have the better players and we played the better football.”