Seamus Coleman: 'Italy made us work hard'

Seamus Coleman has said that the Republic of Ireland were made to "work very hard" during their international friendly against Italy this weekend.

Martin O'Neill's men held the Italians, who are in the same group as England at the World Cup, to a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage last night.

The Everton defender told the club's website: "It was a very tough game against a very good Italy side. They made us work very hard defensively but when we broke, we broke well and created some very good chances.

"They are a top team and they had a couple of players on the bench who didn't play and it will be a tough game for England [in the World Cup] but tonight we are just disappointed that we didn't win the game.

"That shows how well we did tonight and although they obviously had a lot of the ball we stayed compact and I know the forward players will be disappointed that we didn't score."

The Republic are in action again against Costa Rica on Saturday.