WHAT A DIFFERENCE  a day makes.

First Ireland escape from Moscow with the unlikeliest of points, and hours later, Armenia hammer Slovakia 4-0 away from home.

All four goals came in an incredible second-half in Zilina.

Check out the match stats here, if you don’t believe me.

The standings in Group B now make intriguing reading:

Ireland have Andorra next up and then those Armenians in the final game at the Aviva Stadium. Armenia have Macedonia as well as the trip to Dublin while Slovakia and Russian face off in what is now even more intriguing.

There’s many, many permutations but if Trap’s men manage to win their next two ties, they will guarantee at least a play-off place.

Trap, for his part, was quick to admit t oreporters that his team had ridden its luck tonight.

He said: “It is impossible not to recognise that we have been lucky in this 90 minutes. The determination and the application on the pitch of the team, particularly of the senior players like Richard Dunne, Shay Given, Keith Andrews, Aiden McGeady was the pull for the younger players who gained confidence from them.

“I told the players St Patrick was looking down on us tonight.”

• Elsewhere, Northern Ireland’s outside chances of qualification end with a 4-1 defeat in Estonia.

More to follow

Gallery: Irish take unlikely point from Moscow mission

As it happened: Russia v Ireland in Moscow