EUROPA LEAGUE THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND, SECOND LEG Sligo Rovers (0) v Vorskla (0):PAUL COOK will keep faith tonight with the starting line-up that performed so impressively in the Ukraine last week as he attempts to steer his Sligo Rovers side to a place in the play-off round of the Europa League in front of a 3,600 sell-out crowd at the Showgrounds.
That means no place at the outset for leading-scorer Eoin Doyle but Cook insists the striker may still have a decisive role to play in a tie that is delicately balanced in the Irish side’s favour at the half-way point.
“I feel for Eoin,” says Cook, “because he’s been immense for us this season and of course he’s disappointed not to be starting but I don’t want to risk him being knackered when I look to move him up front an hour into the game.
“I’m not dropping him. I’m keeping him in reserve. For me, he’s going to be a contender for the league’s player of the year at the end of the season and he still has a big part in this game. He’ll come on fresh and hopefully he’ll win the game for us in the second half but we have to be patient at the outset and make sure we don’t concede anything that would leave us chasing things.”
Cook confirmed he will start with the same line-up, which means Conor Powell will again be included, while Matthew Blinkhorn will initially play as a lone striker, with Alan Kirby and Raffaele Cretaro probably the two key figures in terms of additional attacking threat.
Both came close to scoring in the away leg, during which Rovers looked the better side for long spells but they key thing now is not to be left, like Shamrock Rovers, ruing the fact they did not put away one of their chances in the away game.
Cook is hopeful his side can finish the job they started last Thursday but is still a little concerned about the level of expectation amongst the supporters coming to tonight’s game.
“They’ll look at the result last week out there and assume that we’re guaranteed to go through,” he says, “but nothing could be further from the truth.
“Once the crowd gets to see this Vorskla Poltava side in action for 10 minutes they’ll appreciate the job that we still have to do but hopefully we’ll give them something to celebrate by the end.”
Tonight’s Fixtures
Europa League Qualifying Third Round Selected matches
(all kick-offs in Irish-time)
Stromsgodset (1) At Madrid (2) 5.30pm
ASK I Bratislava (0) v RB Salzburg (1) 6pm
Hajduk Split (0) v Stoke City (1) 6pm
FC Thun (2) v Palermo (2) 6.30pm
Loko Sofia (0) v Slask Wroclaw (0) 6.30pm
M Tel Aviv (2) v NK Zeljeznicar (0) 6.30pm
PAOK Salonika (2) v Valerenga (0) 7pm
Westerlo (1) v Young Boys Bern (3) 7pm
Fulham (0) v RNK Split (0) 7.30pm
Jablonec (0) v AZ Alkmaar (2) 7.30pm
RS Belgrade (2) v FK Ventspils (1) 7.30pm
Hearts (1) v Paks (1) 7.45pm
FK Sarajevo (0) v Sparta Prague (5) 8pm
