St. Patrick's Ath 1 Valletta FC 1:JEFF KENNA'S side completed a hat-trick of score draws for the Irish clubs in Uefa competitions at Richmond Park last night, but unlike Derry and Bohemians they have what promises to be a tough away match after failing to win on home soil.
A goal by Declan O’Brien on his debut gave St Patrick’s Athletic the lead after 36 minutes and should have provided the platform for a bigger win, but the hosts lost their way early in the second half and, after conceding a soft equaliser, came close to losing late on as they did to salvaging the victory they pushed for through the last quarter of an hour.
While the heat in Malta will probably ensure Kenna and his men look to slow things down a bit next week, both sides started at a fairly lightening pace.
The speed, though, took its toll on the quality of the approach work, and, while there were decent spells of passing, a good deal of what went on was frantic.
Jordi Cruyff, playing between the visiting side’s two centre halves as a sweeper, looked to direct the visitors’ attacking moves with a series of long passes to wide positions. From midfield, though, Gilbert Agius posed more of a threat with low balls forward that repeatedly eluded attempts by the defenders to cut them out.
Stuart Byrne and Alan Cawley battled hard to get the upper hand for the locals in the middle but they never dominated in the way they would have wanted, while out wide Njongo Priso’s darting runs proved a handful at times for Enda Stevens.
The hosts, with a string of players sidelined, threw O’Brien straight in just a couple of days after he arrived on loan from Dundalk but the Dubliner appeared to thrive on the challenge.
Over the first half an hour the striker couldn’t quite get his touch right, with an attempted cross and a crack at goal both going awry in promising situations. But he brought energy to the attack and his reflexes were terrific for the goal.
The former Drogheda United man pounced to drive home after a fine cross from the right by Stephen Maher had been knocked down by Garreth O’Connor.
For the nine minutes that remained of the first period after the strike things looked positive for the locals, but after the break Kenna’s side almost entirely surrendered the initiative and found themselves defending for long spells in front of their own area.
The Maltese players were a mixed bunch but they were far from outclassed and found it very easy to get into dangerous positions.
At times, indeed, the home side looked to be hanging on to the lead by the skin of their teeth.
It was risky stuff, and sure enough they paid for it 25 minutes from time when Agius found Gijsbertus den Ouden with a nicely weighted ball into the area before advancing to pick up a return pass 10 metres out as defenders stood off him.
His first touch was good, and while Rogers then got a hand to the shot that followed he couldn’t prevent it trickling over the line just inside the left hand post.
The sides then traded scoring chances as St Patrick’s recovered the initiative, only to be opened up more than once on the break.
Bobby Ryan went closest for the locals when he forced a good save from Andrew Hogg, but Rogers produced a better one to touch a cracking volley by den Ouden just over nine minutes from time.
More than once, Valletta’s coach, Ton Caanen, and his players made much of penalty claims that looked decidedly ball-to-hand.
But while both sides had some cause to question the performance of the Latvian referee, the Dutchman clearly had greater cause for satisfaction with the result than his counterpart who needs a major improvement from his players next Thursday if an already bad season is not to get a good deal worse.
That said, Kenna said he was confident his men would score in the return leg.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:Rogers; Maher, Harris, Partridge, Stevens; Ryan (Fitzpatrick, 70 mins), Byrne, Cawley, O'Connor; O'Brien, Guy.
VALLETTA:Hogg; Bezzina, Dimech, Cruyff, Scicluna, Briffa; Priso, G Agius, Pace, Falzon (Zammit, 76 mins); den Ouden (E Agius, 90 mins).
Referee:A Sipailo (Latvia).
