EUROPA LEAGUE QUALIFIER FIRST LEG:DUNDALK COULD be left cursing their luck as they let a two -goal lead slip, eventually battLing back for a 3-3 draw in Luxembourg last night .
The stage is set now for Oriel Park next Thursday as the Lilywhites will hope that their three away goals will be enough to help them progress to the next round.
But Ian Foster will wonder how his side found themselves in such a precarious position after they made a dream start on 25 minutes.
Striker Fahrudin Kuduzovic, who had earlier seen two of his strikes sail inches over the bar, fired a shot to the right hand corner of the net to open the Lilywhites’ account in Europe.
The Bosnian nearly grabbed his second when he struck a shot at Grevenmacher goalkeeper Marc Pleiming on 35 minutes, after Neale Fenn’s superb pass found him lurking in space..
Grevenmacher started the second half brightly, but Dundalk struck again to go two up. Wayne Hatswell rose above a crowded box of players to head firmly home on 50 minutes.
The travelling support of 200were in dreamland but 12 minutes of crazy defending nearly cost Foster’s men. Tim Heinz, the Grevenmacher captain replied with a bullet header on 63 minutes, beating Matt Gregg, who replaced the injured Peter Cherrie for this game.
The home side then equalised ten minutes later as Hoffman combined with Gabriel Gasper, the latter firing a scorching drive into the corner of the net.
Dundalk were on the ropes.
Before they could regroup, Grevenmacher hit them on the break again, this time through substitute Gonzalo Almeida, who lifted the ball high into the net from 30 yards to leave it 3-2 with 72 minutes gone.
The visitors were left scrambling for an equaliser. Michael McGowan replaced Ross Gaynor and he made an immediate impact, winning a corner.
With that, Dundalk got a stroke of good fortune as Alan Cawley’s corner took a wicked touch off the back of Khalid Benichou and ended up in the net to set up a thrilling second leg at Oriel Park next Thursday.
CS GREVENMACHER:Pleimling; Gabriel, Heinz, Benichou, Hoffman; Baur (Igor, 90 mins), Hartung, Furst, Mendes (Almeida, 67mins); Lovadi, Muller (Braun, 82 mins).
DUNDALK: Gregg; Kelly, G Breen, Hatswell, Murphy (McGuigan, 63 mins); Miller, Cawley, Maher; Kuduzovic, Fenn, Gaynor (McGowan, 78 mins).
REFEREE: Emir Aleckovic (Bosnia).
