UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND, FIRST LEG/Apoel Nicosia v Derry City, Kick-off, 5.30 p.m. Derry City boss Dermot Keely will open his UEFA Cup campaign in Cyprus tonight against APOEL Nicosia with the same starting 11 which hosted Barcelona at the Brandywell on Tuesday evening.

And that means new goalkeeper Neil Bennett will again be thrown-in at the deep end following his baptism of fire against the Catalans in the 5-0 defeat.

The Dubliner, faced with a goalkeeping crisis, claimed he had no problems using Bennett who, he said, did nothing wrong in the high profile friendly fixture.

"From what I saw of him, he appeared confident and did what had been asked of him," said Keely last night. "It was always going to be very difficult against a side of the quality of Barcelona, but he fitted in well and I'm just glad we have the problem sorted."

When questioned on his knowledge of tonight's opponents, Keely admitted he knew very little about the Cypriot side.

"To be totally honest, I know very little about our opponents other than the fact that they have a full time set-up and boast five or six international players. Their season has yet to start, so I haven't been able to get over to watch them play.

"I've watched bits and pieces of videos from last season but, then again, they have signed four new players from Eastern Europe - all on full-time terms - so that will make it very difficult for us," continued Keely.

He was hopeful, however, of keeping the tie alive for the second leg this day fortnight.

"We'll have to assess the situation as the game progresses, but if we can keep the tie alive for their visit to the Brandywell, I'll be a very happy man.

"The instructions to the players will be very simple, knuckle down, work very hard and try to keep our shape."

APOEL Nicosia are managed by Russian Dusan Uhrin, who managed the Czech Republic side which competed so well in the 1996 European Championships.

Appointed just two months go, Uhrin was at the Brandywell last Thursday night to watch Derry share the spoils with Shamrock Rovers and he was impressed with what he saw.

"I think Derry City have an edge in that they are midway through their season while we have yet to open ours," said Uhrin. "That gives them an advantage and while we have played in friendly games only, I have seen enough to tell me that Derry have a number of good players."