SOCCER/Intertoto Cup/KAA Gent - 3 Bohemians - 1: Having travelled to Gent with a 1-0 advantage, Bohemians never expected an easy ride though the circumstances of their 3-2 aggregate Intertoto Cup defeat on Saturday left the Dublin side disappointed with themselves.
When solid defending was required, they produced an error-prone performance as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat on the night. Even a late rally following Des Byrne's 75th minute goal could not disguise the fact Bohemians had gifted their Belgian hosts too many chances.
"We just weren't good enough on the night. We made mistakes and we were punished for them," admitted player-manager Gareth Farrelly. "We didn't lose because we were inexperienced, we lost because we made some bad mistakes.
"Leading 1-0 coming here was a good result but we knew we'd need to convert more chances. We certainly weren't over confident and we went out with the right attitude."
But attitude can only get you so far, especially if you start slowly, and Bohemians saw their first-leg advantage wiped out in just 18 seconds.
It was a simple goal and one Bohemians should have stopped in their sleep as Mbark Boussoufa slipped off Byrne to run onto a pass from Wouter Vrankcken before firing past Matt Gregg from the edge of the area.
As Bohemians began to accept that the tie was all square again, they fell behind on aggregate in the 10th minute when Stephen Rice was caught out by a cross field pass from Mamar Mamouni and allowed Yngvar Hakonsen to get in behind him and score with a thunderous volley.
The visitors kept their composure and, to their credit, played some controlled football.
They created a number of chances. Dominic Foley went closest with an effort that flew wide after goalkeeper Frederic Herpoel had dropped a throw-in by Rice. But, as they pressed forward, they also left gaps for Gent to exploit.
"It's always a danger," admitted Farrelly. "When you need a goal, there is always the chance that you will make a mistake and that's what happened."
After a corner had been half-cleared, Gregg spilled a shot from Steve Cooreman and Vrancken tapped into the empty net.
Needing two goals for victory, Bohemians went looking for them and got the reward they deserved after 75 minutes when Byrne scored with a overhead flick after Foley had headed down a Fergal Harkin corner.
That goal set up a hectic finale. Tony Grant had a shot saved by Herpoel and the striker was then upended by the goalkeeper in injury-time only for his penalty appeals to be waved away.
But even having come so close in the end, Farrelly was not allowing it to cover up the cracks. "That's not an excuse, we put ourselves in the position where we were chasing the game late on by making mistakes which cost us the game."
GENT: Herpoel; Smoje, Laybutt, Lombaerts, Cooreman; Vrancken, Mamouni, Hakonsen; Boussoufa (De Beule 89); Jbari (Martens 83), Matthys (Diop half-time).
BOHEMIANS: Gregg; Rice, Oman, Byrne, Keddy; Kelly (Harkin 66), Hunt (O'Brien 67), Farrelly, Ward; Grant, Foley.
Referee: K Mammadov (Azerbaijan).
TONIGHT'S FIXTURE
National League Premier Division: Shelbourne v Longford Town, Tolka Park, 8.0.
