Sport

Cork consolation

Cork City's spirited comeback in the second leg of the UEFA Cup preliminary round tie was sparked at Turners Cross last night…

Fri Aug 27 1999 - 01:00

Cork City's spirited comeback in the second leg of the UEFA Cup preliminary round tie was sparked at Turners Cross last night by a superb goal from centre forward Pat Morley after 29 minutes.

Morley scored from close range after centre back Dave Hill had headed on a right wing corner kick from Ollie Cahill. Gothenburg, who can look upon a distinguished history in Europe with wins over Rangers, Barcelona and Manchester United in the past, were regularly under pressure as Cork restored some of their lost pride with a spirited and skilful performance.

Gothenburg's discomfort under sustained second half pressure was reflected in the corner count, 9-1 in Cork's favour in the second half and 12-2 overall. Gothenburg repeatedly pulled all 11 players into their penalty area to meet this challenge and the pressure that Cork maintained sparked off a sensational incident in the closing minutes of the game when Gothenburg had a defender, Anegrund, sent off.

Anegrund was shown the red card by the French referee when he retaliated after being fouled by Cork substitute Gerald Dobbs in the 89th minute but excited Cork fans groaned when the referee rejected appeals for a penalty and instead awarded the Swedes a free for the original foul.

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Cork could take a lot of satisfaction from winning the second leg however, and their policy of playing five players across the middle and a lone striker in Morley proved a success. Morley was close to a sensational second goal in the 56th minute when he almost reached a speeding cross from full back Gareth Cronin but after retrieving the ball he set up Colin O'Brien for a shot from 18 yards that was deflected outside by Henriksson with the goalkeeper scrambling.

Cork City: Mooney, Napier, Daly, Hill, Cronin, C O'Brien, Freyne, L O'Brien, Flanagan, Cahill, Morley. Subs: Dobbs for Morley 69, O'Halloran for Cahill 71.

Gothenburg: B Andersson, Nilsson, Erlingmark, Anegrund, Landberg, Hoiland, Mild, Henriksson, Karlsson, P Andersson and Tetteh. Subs: Hermansson for P Andersson 86 mins and Spensson for Tetteh 92 mins.

Referee: P Kalt (France).