Stephen Kenny refuses to accept he is entering the last chance saloon with Ireland.
Rather, the defiant manager insists 'nothing is impossible in epic games’ against France and Holland.
The under-fire boss received a stay of execution on Monday night as Ireland eventually got going to see off whipping boys Gibraltar.
READ MORE: Richard Dunne criticises Stephen Kenny's tactics after Gibraltar win
Mikey Johnston and Adam Idah scored their first senior goals while Evan Ferguson bagged his second.
Having blown the pivotal game of the group in Greece, Kenny’s future still hangs in the balance going into September’s heavyweight double-header.
But he said: “I don’t let that enter my way of thinking. They are going to be big games.
“France in Paris on a Thursday and Holland here on Sunday night - two epic games and the place will be electric with Holland coming here.
"It's a really exciting window, two really tough games but very exciting games and nothing is impossible."
And while Kenny admits that Ireland’s ongoing lack of consistency is a problem, he feels performances against other big nations offer hope.
“We have drawn with Portugal here, lost 2-1 over there and France 1-0 here. The margins are tight.
“Anything is possible regardless of who we play, although we haven’t achieved the levels of consistency and that is an issue for us.
"We have made life difficult for ourselves after Greece but we have to play Holland twice and Greece have to play Holland twice.
"It’s a tough September window but we still have every chance and we have to back ourselves"
Qualification - certainly from this group, whatever about the convoluted Nations League patch - will be a tall order after only three games.
Friday’s performance in Athens saw to that but James McClean has no intention of throwing in the towel on this campaign or the manager.
France’s 1-0 win over Greece in Paris last night means that second spot is still up for grabs.
McClean, who won his 100th cap last night and provided two assists, said: “We’ve a tendency to jump to conclusions especially when it's negative.
“But we've got a lot of games to play. Points are going to be taken off each other. Positivity would help especially with a young squad.”
Ireland took an age to get going on Monday night but eventually hit their stride to complete a routine victory against the minnows.
But of the frustrating lack of chances despite lording possession in that first-half, Kenny said: “That can happen but it’s important to keep composure and believe in ourselves.
“We had a lot of shots - 32 shots - and it was all about getting the first goal as it eases the tension and thankfully we got two others.”
Kenny rolled the dice by replacing defender Nathan Collins with attacker Mikey Johnston at half-time and the Celtic man swiftly bagged his first international goal.
“We picked a very attacking team, but didn’t take our chances. We needed to make a change at half-time.
“That’s what a squad is for and obviously Mikey came on last Friday, a game we’re still disappointed with,” continued Kenny.
“We’ve a young squad who were all disappointed but it was important to respond in the right way.
“We’re expected to beat Gibraltar and we had the same scoreline as France and Holland had against them, and we could have won by more.
“Adam Idah and Mikey Johnston scored their first goals and that was Evan Ferguson’s first competitive goal.
“He’s still learning, he scored here against Latvia but that was a very imposing header and he nearly got a second. He’s so young and has an exciting future.”
