FC Levadia Maardu are this morning still clinging to a bureaucratic lifeline ahead of tonight's UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, second leg against Bohemians here in Tallinn (kick-off 5.30pm Irish time).
Despite their comprehensive 3-0 defeat in the first leg in Dublin last Wednesday, and the dismissal of a protest, fundamentally concerning the height of one of Dalymount Park's goalposts, the Estonian champions have doggedly continued their appeal and UEFA will hear a second protest, against the dismissal, in Geneva at 9.30 this morning.
At a cost to themselves of up to £10,000 to process this second appeal, Levadia, conscious of the fact they've little to lose, are leaving no stone unturned as they strive to have the first leg replayed, going so far as to suggest that the UEFA observer, Alan Hutchings, a senior Manchester policeman, was bias in favour of Bohemians.
Bohemians officials, however, were last night confident Levadia's appeal would again be dismissed.
"We are absolutely confident that the charges levelled at us will be flatly dismissed by UEFA," said Bohemians' president Phelim O'Reilly. "We feel the appeal has no realistic chance of succeeding. Nobody has told us what penalties would be imposed, but we are not expecting any. On a point of order, any complaints they may have had had to be made in writing before the game and they didn't do that. Their initial objection was thrown out and we're confident this appeal will be as well."
Bohemians find Levadia's protests, which also include complaints about the behaviour of a Bohemians official and the size and cleanliness of their dressing room, as a little rich.
The pitch Pete Mahon's side had to train on on Monday evening was described as a disgrace, the hosts adding insult to injury by asking for £35 for its use. Mahon says the off-the-field dispute won't be allowed to affect his preparations.
"It will act as an incentive for us to make sure we bury them tonight," said Mahon. "I haven't discussed it with the players and we simply see it as gamesmanship on Levadia's part."
"It will be crucial that we don't give away an early goal," said Mahon. "We must keep them scoreless for as long as possible. We then have a good chance of scoring goals from any position. We are an attack-minded team.
"We are in a great position. Complacency is a fear, but I told the players that if that shows they can take a look at the bench as we have replacements for every position."
Mahon won't announce his starting eleven until this morning, but, with Shaun Maher (ankle) and Paul Byrne (knee) having recovered from knocks, it's unlikely to differ from the team that started the first leg at Dalymount.
BOHEMIANS (probable): Russell; Shelly, Maher, John, S. Webb; Byrne, Hunt, Caffrey, Rutherford; Crowe, Nesovic.
