Shamrock Rovers 1 Odra Wodislaw 0There may have been some rumblings around Rovers these past few weeks about the wages situation at the club but when it comes to perks nobody could grumble with the travel opportunities currently on offer to Liam Buckley's men. Last week Wodzislaw, next week Liberec. Who says the eircom league isn't dripping with glamour?
A team unchanged from the one that beat Poland's Odra Wozdislaw 2-1 away did comfortably enough at Richmond Park yesterday to earn their trip to the Czech Republic. Liam Buckley said afterwards that his side had set their stall out for the draw they needed to progress and were a little lucky to win. In reality the home team's tactics ensured that the Poles were completely contained from beginning to end with Rovers generating almost every one of the game's serious goal scoring chances.
"I'm absolutely delighted," said the Rovers manager afterwards, "although all things being equal I think that if we played that team 10 times you'd expected them to beat us more times than we'd beat them."
The main inequality alluded to, of course, is the fact that the Poles are currently in the middle of their close season while the shift in season here meant that the Dubliners were as sharp looking as any side that has represented the league in European football in recent years.
Odra club officials were eager to drive that point home too and it was hard not to think of the all the Irish managers and directors who had made just the same sort of remarks after seeing their sides go out of European competitions to opposition they had presumed to be inferior down the years.
But then the visiting club had not helped itself either by choosing to arrive in Ireland less than 24 hours before the game. Here too, there were echoes of the sort of approach adopted by our own clubs in the not so distant past.
The reality is that it was impossible to tell on the strength of yesterday's game just how good this Polish side really is but what was clear for the 3,500 or so supporters who had come out on a wonderfully sunny afternoon in Inchicore was that when it mattered they were nowhere close to being good enough to achieve the away win required if they were going to overturn the advantage gained by Rovers in the first leg.
Technically they were certainly capable enough while there was no lack of physical commitment from players who fought hard for the ball in every area of the pitch and picked up a handful of bookings for their trouble along the way.
They were rewarded with the bulk of the possession although they will have wondered on their journey back to southern Poland just why it was that they managed to achieve so little with it.
Needing to score at least twice if they were to progress, they managed just one shot of note on target with another, a fine free by Marcin Nowacki coming back off the crossbar when Barry Ryan, for the only time in the match, had looked beaten.
Rovers, in contrast, looked far more menacing on the break with both Shane Robinson and Stephen Grant managing to whip in a succession of crosses from good positions.
During the first half, in particular, Glen Fitzpatrick's inability to put away the chances that came his way looked to be the home side's greatest weakness but then Tony Grant also had one or two chances to round off a fine display with a goal during the second period.
In midfield his namesake Stephen and Jason Colwell were especially impressive although most credit must surely go to a back four that so effectively smothered the Polish attack and in which Terry Palmer was again the most outstanding performer.
The goalless draw the defence seemed well capable of securing for their team would have been enough to take Rovers through to the next round but it would inevitably have taken just a little of the gloss off the occasion for the home support.
In the 66th minute, though, the local fans were given ample cause to start their celebrations by a memorable goal that pretty much killed off any Polish ambitions.
Colwell started the move forward when he took down a high back pass and quickly pushed it forward to Stephen Grant. For a moment it appeared the winger had missed his chance to set Tony Grant free down the left but in fact his fleeting delay turned out to have been inspired and as two defenders closed in on him he released his team mate who in turn crossed for Fitzpatrick to head, unmarked, past Beben from just beyond the far post.
Slovan Liberec should be made of much sterner stuff but the club's two watching officials will at least have to report back that there may be more to this Rovers team than the league's dismal European record would suggest.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Ryan; Gough, Palmer, Byrne, Keddy; Robinson (Tracey, 87 mins), Colwell, Reynolds, S Grant (Lacey, 74 mins); T Grant (Molloy 82 mins), Fitzpatrick.
ODRA WODZISLAW: Beben; Grzyb (Jankowski, 72 mins), Cios, Szymiczek, R Gorski; W Gorski, Jarosz, Kwiek, Nowacki (Salek, 72 mins); Ziarkowski, Socha (Myszor, half-time).
Referee: V Banari (Moldova)
Glen Crowe is expected to return to the Bohemians' starting line for this evening's home game against Cork City after recovering from a knee injury that has kept the Ireland international sidelined for a month.
St Patrick's Athletic's Davy Byrne is also tipped to end a two-month lay-off caused by an ankle problem when the Inchicore club take on Waterford United tonight at Richmond Park.
