SOCCER/Vega Olimpija...1 Shelbourne...0: Shelbourne are in with a fighting chance of reaching the first round proper of the UEFA Cup after a narrow defeat in Ljubljana last night.
Pat Fenlon's side failed to score the away goal which would make progression more likely, but showed enough to suggest that they are capable of defeating their Slovenian opponents at Tolka Park on August 28th.
One momentary lapse in an otherwise faultless defensive display proved costly as Nedim Jusufbegovic took full advantage of their loss of concentration in the 72nd minute to score with a good header, which Steve Williams was unable to keep out.
Olimpija had more chances throughout the game, with their former Portsmouth player Mladen Rudonja particularly impressive, but they did not dictate the game in quite the way their manager Suad Besirovic had expected.
Shelbourne suffered an early blow when midfielder Stuart Byrne was forced to leave the action with just 11 minutes gone after a particularly robust challenge by Enes Handanagic.
Polish referee Krzysztof Slupik took no action against the defender, but the National League side may feel that justice was served when Handanagic was himself forced to retire later in the first half having failed to fully recover from the head injury he sustained in the incident.
Before leaving, Byrne had already created the first opportunity of the contest when Borut Mavric could only parry his free kick, but Ollie Cahill was unable to score with his follow-up header, which hit the stanchion.
Mavric was also forced into action by Shelbourne's lone striker Jason Byrne who collected a low pass from Wes Hoolahan before trying his luck from just inside the penalty area, but the Olimpija goalkeeper saved with his feet.
Byrne also had a convincing appeal for a penalty turned down after he was brought down by a mis-timed Igor Lazic challenge.
Olimpija had started slowly, but began to create more chances as the first half wore on with Steve Williams denying both Nedim Jusufbegovic and Janez Aljancic, while Owen Heary and Dave Rogers also had to make last-ditch tackles to ensure the game remained level at the break.
Within 12 minutes of the restart, Rogers spurned a glorious opportunity to score a precious away goal when he headed over the crossbar after a Richie Baker free kick had been headed on by Kevin Doherty, but Olimpija continued to look dangerous on the attack.
They finally found a breakthrough 18 minutes before the end when Shelbourne failed to properly defend a cross from Mladen Rudonja.
Aljancic directed the ball back into the box where Jusufbegovic had broken free - and he had time and space to score with a well-placed header.
With Byrne understandably tiring after his hard work up front, both Ger McCarthy and Dessie Baker were sent on with instructions to score an away goal to bring back to Tolka Park, but neither they nor any of their team-mates were able to do so.
VEGA LJUBJLANA: Mavric; Handanagic (Mirtic 20), Lazic, Budicin; Aljancic (Kreft 87), Zlogar, Kosic (captain), Barun, Rudonja; Jusufbegovic, Kmetec (Puc 61).
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary (captain), Rogers, Doherty, Crawley; R Baker (D Baker 80), Morgan, S Byrne (Hoolahan 12), Crawford, Cahill, J Byrne (G McCarthy 77).
Referee: Krzysztof Slupik (Poland).
