Giovanni Trapattoni was keeping his feet firmly on the ground despite seeing the Republic of Ireland power their way to a 4-0 Euro 2012 lead in Estonia.
The Italian will send his side out to complete the job at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night with opposite number Tarmo Ruutli missing first-choice keeper Sergei Pareiko and central defenders Raio Piiroja and Andrei Stepanov through suspension after a disastrous night at the A Le Coq Arena.
However, Trapattoni will not be satisfied until the job is complete. He said: "The cat is in the sack, but the sack is not closed. The cat is in it, but it's open - and it's a wild cat."
However, the 72-year-old Italian could hardly have been more delighted with the way his players blasted their way towards what seems a certain qualification in Dublin.
He said: "In my opinion, we deserved to win. Maybe we were helped after the first goal by the sending-off - at 11 v 10, we had more opportunities to score goals. But we have to have respect for our opponents for what they have achieved in this qualification campaign.
"At this moment, we are near qualifying at 4-0. But I repeat the same sentence: don't jump the gun."
Ireland are now just 90 minutes away from ending their 10-year wait to qualify for the finals of a major tournament, an achievement which would bring a minimum of around 8million Euros into the Football Association of Ireland's coffers.
Trapattoni said: "I have been many times at the edge of a cliff. I know these situations. I have been to many big tournaments and matches like this are what I call top level matches.
"But it's not necessarily important to achieve one objective, we have to focus on what comes next. This is my law. I never look back, I always look forward."
Source: PA
