Lausanne Sports eased through the UEFA Cup qualifying round second leg at Turner's Cross yesterday with a degree of comfort not reflected in the scoreline.
They were in control from the eighth minute when goalkeeper Eric Rapo made a superb save to deny Cork City's centre-forward, Pat Morley. The home side defended stubbornly and with some excellent goalkeeping by Noel Mooney limited the opposition to just one goal.
This was sufficient to send them through 2-0 on aggregate, and while Cork went close to salvaging a draw on the night with some spirited attacking play in the closing quarter, they were always chasing a lost cause.
Lausanne were fully aware of their advantage from the first leg and while they enjoyed a monopoly of possession for long periods, they were never prepared to commit defenders forward, even if Cork laboured from the start, with Pat Morley playing a lone role up front.
Cork's tactics of crowding the midfield might well have paid dividends had not Rapo turned aside Morley's smashing half-volley in the eight minute, but Lausanne never opened up the game until they scored after 62 minutes.
It was a poor goal from a Cork viewpoint as Hellebuyck's corner from the left wing was allowed bounce through the goalmouth to where Lausanne's powerful centre-back, Gobet, headed home. Cork needed three goals at that point to turn the game around, and while they began to show as an attacking force at last, this was, in part, due to Lausanne's more open approach.
The visitors were denied several times by the alert Noel Mooney in Cork's goal, and the home side's best chance was turned aside by the excellent Rapo after 77 minutes when he beat away a powerful shot from Morley; Caulfield's attempt from the rebound was charged down.
Cork's manager, Derek Mountfield, acknowledged Lausanne's superiority at the final whistle and complimented his players. "I could not fault the effort, the lads did very well and the way the fans responded at the end showed they appreciated that too.
"We were lacking on a technical level a little and I would have liked to have seen us pass the ball a bit more, but we did very well to match a professional outfit like Lausanne, they are not a bad side."
CORK CITY; Mooney; Horgan, Daly, Napier, Delaney; O'Brien, Freyne, Herrick, Cahill; Cotter, Morley. Subs: - Caulfield for Cotter (59 mins), O'Halloran for Delaney (66 mins), Flanagan for O'Brien (82 mins).
LAUSANNE SPORTS; Rapo; Karlen, Puce, Gobet, Meyer; Lombardo, Gomes, Santini, Hellebuyck; Kuzba, Mazzoni. Subs: - Lutsenko for Kuzba (77 mins), Horjak for Lombardo (85 mins), Simon for Mazzoni (90 mins).
Referee: P Kari (Finland).
