UEFA CUP QUALIFYING - IF Elfsborg 2 St Patrick's Athletic 2: St Patrick's Athletic bring Swedish outfit Elfsborg back to Inchicore with two precious away goals in the bag after Johnny McDonnell's men staged a sterling comeback in Boras last night.
With the League of Ireland side staring defeat in the face when Stefan Ishizaki and Johan Karlsson put the hosts into an early lead, the visitors pummelled their opponents with 45 minutes of blistering football.
Mark Quigley, the man-of-the-match, brought his side back into the match when he bagged a 57th-minute penalty. Then Gary Dempsey had the St Patrick's bench on their feet when he clinically dispatched a header to the net with eight minutes remaining.
McDonnell's men will only grow in confidence too when they analyse their performance over the coming days, and they will be favourites to progress when the sides meet again at Richmond Park in two weeks.
"It was a good result obviously," said Quigley. "To get two away goals was a bonus, and after the first half the manager brought us in and just told us what we had to do. Everyone needed to up their work rate and keep the ball a little bit and that is what we did.
"It was a tough game and I thought they played well in the first half.
"In the second half they did well too, but that was the real St Pat's in the second half. We showed the Swedes that we could play and hopefully we can finish the job in Dublin and try to get through to the next round."
Things were looking good for the visitors in the early stages with the back four comfortable and Quigley dangerous at the other end.
As the night darkened in Boras, however, so did the mood of McDonnell when his side looked be on the end of a poor decision from Lithuanian referee Paulius Malzinskas when he pointed to the spot on 22 minutes.
Stephen Paisley got the ball and not the leg of Lars Nilsson, but the man in the middle didn't see it that way. Ishizaki caressed the ball to the bottom-right corner.
After such an encouraging start it was hard to take, and on 29 minutes it got even worse for the visitors when Karlsson made it 2-0.
This time St Patrick's couldn't complain as Daniel Mobaeck made it to the byline unchallenged and his inviting square ball back across the six-yard box was asking to be banged home. It didn't happen the first time, but the full-back made no mistake when he got a second chance.
St Patrick's needed a lifeline in the tie and they got exactly that when the referee awarded the Irish side a penalty on 57 minutes, one that looked just as controversial as the one in the opening half.
Quigley, whose trickery was causing real problems at this stage, was the man who created it as his shot was batted away for a corner by Andreas Augustsson, an action done with his elbow, according to Malzinskas.
It was the Irish under-23 international that took the responsibility of dispatching the spot kick to the net and he made no mistake in putting the ball to the same corner as Ishizaki had done earlier in the game.
That would have been good enough, but the visitors went for the jugular and Elfsborg didn't have a response. Passing the ball with conviction, Dempsey began a move in his half and was there to finish when Ryan Guy swept a cross into the box.
IF ELFSBORG: Wiland; Karlsson, Lucic, Augustsson, Mathias Floran; Svensson, Mobaeck; Ishizaki, Nilsson, Bajrami (Nordmark, 77); Berglund (Jesper Floran, 70).
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Barry Ryan; O'Cearuill, Gavin, Harris, Paisley; Guy, Dempsey, Fahey, Quigley, Lynch (Bobby Ryan, 66); Murphy.
Referee: Paulius Malzinskas (Lithuania).
