Shamrock Rovers 0 Odds Ballklubb 2
Pat Fenlon had talked before this game about the way in which the Norwegians had sprung from the traps in the first leg of the last round, effectively putting the entire tie beyond their hosts even before the Moldovans had had a chance to find their feet. Three goals in the first 28 they scored that night; they left it longer to get two here but the effect is pretty much the same.
Though they notionally have a good deal more European football under their belts than Odds, inexperience still seemed to be at the heart of the home side’s problems with their opponents a little more on top of their task in every department, especially up front where Olivier Occean was one of several players to stand out a little from the crowd.
Before and particularly after his two goals, Pat Fenlon’s side had opportunities to score themselves with Ryan Brennan fluffing a promising volley then looking guilty, like a couple of team mates, of letting a tantalising Brandon Miele cross roll harmlessly across the face of the goal. Odds, though, always just seemed to have a little more about them when it mattered most.
Conor Kenna returned for the Dubliners and seemed to add to the sense of security at the back through the first half with the Rovers skipper making a couple of important interventions at key moments
Ultimately, though, it was his rash challenge on Fredrik Nordkvelle that handed Occean the opportunity to chip home from the penalty spot and the former Eintracht Frankfurt player got his second after 67 minutes when Chukwuma Akabueze’s corner from the right found him unmarked his header clipped the underside of the bar on the way in.
It was a real pity for the home side who, while somewhat second best for stretches, never exactly looked overwhelmed and might well have nicked a draw out of it if they had they either stayed on top of things at the back or taken a couple of their own chances.
Mikey Drennan had enough chances to get at least one but the closest he came was when Rossbach allowed a powerfully struck shot to slip through his hands but then recovered just in time to prevent the ball trickling over the line.
Earlier on, the home side’s hopes of catching Odds on the counter attack had been boosted by the wet and slightly wild conditions with the wind helping Fenlon’s men move the ball up the field quickly when Odds were shorthanded at the back but the Dubliners fell into the trap too often of hitting it long early as they came under sustained pressure from a side that worked hard to prevent their hosts settling on the ball.
That industry and greater composure around the opposition area both told as the night wore on and they might have even have had a third away goal in them here too had they not taken on the air, after the second, of the a side whose work was essentially done.
What Damien Duff made of it as he looked on from the stands is hard to tell. Certainly he, Keith Fahey and Stephen McPhail could all have contributed a bit of what Rovers lacked here but the former Chelsea star will, it seems, have to hope his new club secures European football again for next year if he is to get one last crack at foreign opposition.
Shamrock Rovers: Hyland; Madden, Websster, Kenna, Byrne; McCabe, Cregg; G Brennan (North, 80 mins), R Brennan (Kavanagh, 86 mins), Waters (Miele, 67 mins); Drennan.
Odds: Rossbach; Rudd, Eriksen, Hagen, Jonassen; Samuelsen, Gashi (Jensen, half-time), Nordkvelle; Halvorsen, Occean (Bergan, 85 mins), Akabueze (Storbaek, 82 mins).
Referee: Alian Bieri (Switzerland)
