Robbie Keane is ready to make up for lost time against Andorra on Tuesday night after passing up the opportunity to move himself closer to membership of an elite club.
The Republic of Ireland skipper had one strike ruled out for offside, hit the post and fired wide from the kind of chance he converts with almost monotonous regularity during Friday night's 1-0 Euro 2012 qualifier victory in Armenia and as a result, he failed to add to his current tally of 43 goals in 101 senior appearances.
Keane said: I don't want to jump the gun too quickly, but now that I am climbing close to it, of course it would be great to achieve that."
He added: "To be in the bracket with the players who are already there and have already achieved that would be a great honour.
"But at the same time, there are still a few goals to go, so I wouldn't be thinking about that too much."
On paper, Andorra's visit to Dublin for Ireland's first competitive game at the Aviva Stadium represents a glorious opportunity for Keane to take a significant step towards reaching 50 goals for his country.
However, the man who scored a hat-trick against San Marino in the last competitive international at the old Lansdowne Road, is taking nothing for granted.
He said: "At the end of the day, I never set targets. That would be very naive of me and disrespectful to the other team.
"As a striker, it is always important to score goals and get your confidence up, but whether I score on Tuesday or anyone else, the most important thing is the three points.
"Our aim is to win every game by scoring as many goals as possible, but under different circumstances in different games, it is not as easy as you think."
Source: PA
