Bohs bow out despite late winner

INTERTOTO CUP Bohemians 2 FK Riga 1 (agg 2-2 Riga win on away goals): BOHEMIANS MANAGER Pat Fenlon said he was disappointed …

INTERTOTO CUP Bohemians 2 FK Riga 1 (agg 2-2 Riga win on away goals):BOHEMIANS MANAGER Pat Fenlon said he was disappointed for his players, but not unduly unhappy with being out of the competition after a brilliant strike from Grigory Chirkin put Riga through to a third-round meeting with Swedish side Elfsborg on the away goal rule.

On a frustrating night for Bohemians, captain Owen Heary was sent off deep in stoppage time while there were minor scuffles at the final whistle as the players left the field as the Latvians gloated in front the main stand. "I'm disappointed for the players because I thought we did enough to win the game," said Fenlon. "I know we won on the night, but we played well enough to go through and unfortunately we just didn't take our chances on the night.

"I thought we caused them a lot of problems on set-pieces. We'd some great deliveries in from Killian (Brennan). On another night we'd have scored another couple of goals."

Brennan's 21st minute free-kick was headed home off a post by Jason McGuinness to give Bohemians the lead. Chirkin levelled on 65 minutes with a stunning volley from Gints Freimanis's cross after Bohemians lost concentration at a throw-in.

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Brennan got Bohemians back in front on the night right on 90 minutes when slotting home a penalty after he'd been fouled by Roberts Mezeckis before Heary received a straight red card for a challenge on Ivan Shapkov three minutes into added time. "I saw the sending off. Owen won the ball as clear as day. You can't criticise the referee, it's the linesman that's given it," said Fenlon.

"There was just a bit of frustration on everybody's behalf," added Fenlon on the jostling at the end. "I don't think anything serious happened. A bit of pushing and shoving and that was it. Tuesday's (league game in Bray) is more important. I'm unhappy for the players because I thought they worked hard. We set out to play in a certain way and I thought we played well. Then we switched off for a throw-in and we got punished. It was a great finish, in fairness to him, but it was too easy for the ball to be delivered in."

BOHEMIANS:Murphy; Heary, McGuinness, Burns, Powell; Kelly, Cronin (Hunt 22), O'Donnell, Brennan; Fenn, Crowe.

FK RIGA:Chepcugov; Zavoronkovs, Mezeckis, Halvitovs, Korablovs; Agafonov (Freimanis 55), Novikov, Leonovs (Rafalskis 76), Kalonas, Chirkin; Shpakov.

Referee:B Sandmoen (Norway) .