TEETHING problems continued at the Aviva Stadium during Ireland's dramatic defeat to Russia on Friday as hundreds of match tickets were accidentally duplicated.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) had requested that stewards in certain areas of the ground hand-check tickets as people entered through the automated turnstiles.

Other fans said they were instructed to sit in any seats once they entered the ground.

There was one success story on the night, though, as stadium management managed to avoid a repeat of chaotic crowd scenes at last weekend's Leinster vs Munster rugby match thanks to a complete overhaul of crowd control measures.

However, with sports bodies still getting accustomed to running the new 50,000-seat arena there was confusion over ticket allocation.

An official at one of the entrances said they had double printed tickets for the European Championships qualifier.

"It was just bad management from the FAI. They wanted us to check every ticket but we told them where to go," he said.

While the majority of Russian fans were segregated, there was at least one incident in which security officials and gardaí had to intervene after a Russian supporter started taunting the home fans in the West Upper section.

Tony O'Sullivan from the Athlone Under 13 Academy, which brought 20 children to the match, said they also experienced some confusion with the seating.

"When we were in there they said we could sit anywhere rather than where our seats where," he said.

"Coming out was a lot easier but then we waited for a while. I don't think it was as easy coming out as the old Lansdowne."

However, despite a series of minor problems and complaints, crowd control measures at the ground were significantly improved compared to last weekend's Magners League rugby match, when thousands of fans complained of getting stuck in an underground tunnel.

There were also concerns about the mass flow of people outside the ground.

One fan, in a letter to a newspaper, complained of a family member having to "rescue a lost young child from the crushing weight of thousands of confused and frustrated adults emerging from the stadium".

At the ground on Friday evening, stewards and gardaí strictly marshaled exits from the stadium and formed orderly queues both away from the exits and down towards the Dart station.

Fans did complain about signage outside the Aviva, however. "It [crowd control] was okay but the signage wasn't. There was a time when people were walking around the area wondering where to go but there wasn't any crushing," said spectator Peter Haran.

Michaell Langstrom from Sweden was at the Leinster-Munster game and said there were noticeable improvements on Friday. "They kept the lights on after the game [this time]. They turned off the lights after [the Leinster-Munster match] and people couldn't see where they were going," he said.

The FAI did not respond when contacted about concerns over the duplication of match tickets.