UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND, SECOND LEG: Krylia Sovetov 3 St Patrick's 2:A WEEK AFTER they had made hard going of eliminating Maltese opposition from the Europa League, St Patrick's Athletic completed what will go down as one of the bigger shocks of the competition's inaugural season yesterday by eliminating a Russian side ranked nearly 40 places above them when the draw for this third qualifying round was made last month.
The Dubliners had taken a 1-0 lead with them to Samara but, three goals behind after an hour yesterday, they looked to be on their way out of the competition before staging a stunning late comeback to grab the two away goals they required to progress.
Once again, Declan O’Brien was the hero, with the striker scoring the crucial second to maintain his record of a goal in every European game since he arrived from Dundalk a few weeks back.
“This is right up there with winning the (English Premier) league with Blackburn for me, I’m blown away,” said manager Jeff Kenna, who again turned the tide of the game with a tactical switch at the time when things looked fairly bleak for his side.
“At 3-0 down we were getting a pasting. On the bench, we had to make a call between trying to stem the flow or trying to change the direction of the game.
“I made a switch to 4-4-2 from 4-5-1, put Ryan Guy up front and Gareth O’Connor out on the wing, and it worked. Scoring the first goal was crucial as it knocked them out of their stride and it gave us confidence as we knew there was plenty of time left to score again.
“The second goal was a great piece of magic by O’Connor on the right wing. He got by the full back and pinged in a lovely cross for Fabio (O’Brien) to head home. We all went mad on the bench. It was Fabio’s only chance of the game and he took it. That’s what good centre forwards are all about. Four goals in four games. Unbelievable. He was excellent again tonight. He worked his socks off on his own.”
Qualification for the play-off round is a major coup for a club whose league form at home has been miserable for most of the campaign. Though they beat the Russians in Inchicore last week, O’Brien’s goal then came against the run of play and nobody was under any illusions about just how tough hanging on to their lead was going to be. As it turned out they kept their noses in front until the 43rd minute when Bober ended a spell of sustained pressure with a shot from the edge of the area that flew low past Gary Rogers and into the bottom corner.
They then conceded twice more during a five-minute spell early in the second period, with Russian striker Evgeniy Savin getting a brace that seemed to have set the home side firmly on course for the next round.
Kenna made a couple of changes and shook things up tactically and the fightback began to pay dividends 17 minutes from time when one of the substitutes, Alan Cawley, floated in a free and Bober, under pressure from Dave Partridge, headed into his own goal.
The Irish set about chasing the second goal they needed and they got it with 11 minutes remaining with O’Brien, much as he had done in the first leg, getting on to a ball from the right and firing it past goalkeeper Eduardo Lobos.
“After that, they started to knock long balls in and that suited Jamie Harris and Dave Partridge down to the ground,” said Kenna. “When they got it down and passed it earlier we struggled but for the final 10 minutes or so, we were quite comfortable.
“It’s the stuff of dreams, to be honest; it’s such a proud moment for me at the start of my managerial career. To be in the fourth-round draw is fantastic. But it’s the players who deserve all the credit,” he added. “The resilience and attitude shown by them speaks volumes for their character.”
The players, in turn, were thrilled by the fact when the second St Patrick’s goal went in and the final whistle sounded subsequently, the three fans who had travelled managed to make more noise than the 10,000 or so Russians still in the stadium.
Guy insisted, however, that the players had always felt they could make it a memorable evening. “To go from 3-0 down to going through is just amazing,” he said. “But we all knew coming over, we could do it if we stayed patient. Leaving the lockerroom, the key words were ‘don’t panic’. Even when they scored before half-time, we knew the match wasn’t over. They had the majority of possession but we were ready for that.”
KRYLYA SOVETOV: Lobos; Kalachev, Shishkin, Bober, Taranov, Adzhindzhal, Ignatjev (Kulik, 39 mins), Budylin (Leilton, 68 mins), Belozerov, Ivanov, Savin.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Rogers, Gavin (Maher, 66 mins, Partridge, Harris, Stevens (D Ryan, 76 mins); Guy, Lynch, Byrne, O'Connor, B Ryan (Cawley, 63 mins); O'Brien.
Referee: Tommy Skjerven (Nor).
