Uefa Under-21 Championship Qualifier:The Republic play their fourth Uefa Championship qualifier tonight with their qualification hopes already all but conceded.

Although a second-place finish is still mathematically possible, Don Givens - who returns to his regular side after a week with the senior international team - is not thinking of the possibilities of a play-off spot.

The Ireland boss heads into this fixture with simpler targets - such as snatching a goal to boost morale. In their three previous clashes, the Irish youngsters have succumbed 2-0 to Portugal, 3-0 to England and 1-0 to Montenegro.

"We need to get some points on the board," said Givens. "Second place goes into a play-off, but that looks a long way off at the moment, to be honest.

"We've had poor runs with the under-21s before, then had 12 games unbeaten so anything is possible. Realistically, all I'm thinking about is a good performance and converting chances."

Givens has had his options boosted by the return of Anthony Stokes and Darren O'Dea from senior duty, but Keith Treacy has returned to Blackburn with a slight hamstring concern.

The poor return his men have produced in front of goal in this campaign has been the biggest disappointment for Givens.

"It's disappointing. The Portugal game, although we might have snatched one at the end, they didn't give us much chances. They outplayed us.

"When I think of the performances against England and the second half against Montenegro, we'd more than enough chances, but we need a goal to get us off the mark.

"If we'd scored first in Montenegro it could have been a lot different. We did score three in the friendly in Sweden before the England game, but we're not getting the breaks at the moment."