Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley sat into another post-match examination of another European night on foreign soil when the Irish champions were excruciatingly exposed by their own naivety.
There is no way to sugarcoat this 3-0 defeat to Ludogorets of Bulgaria. Bradley was understandably fuming as Rovers were 40 seconds away from shutting down any criticism following a second half littered with positives.
All ruined by Igor Thiago’s tie-killing goal in the 94th minute.
“It’s almost impossible really at three-nil,” conceded Bradley ahead of next week’s second leg in Tallaght. “They are a really good side. Two-nil is a different game. We have been there before with Slovan at home so it would have been a different game. That’s why the third goal is so disappointing.
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“You have practically given them the tie which is really frustrating.”
Let’s relive this Bulgarian lesson in the Champions League. Even considering the gulf in quality up to half-time, as Cypriot striker Pieros Sotiriou scored twice, Rovers’ compact shape and desire in the second period almost led to Graham Burke snatching a late goal.
Thiago ruined all that. Or more accurately, Thiago was gifted the chance to ruin all that.
“The third goal we gave away is really, really poor from our point of view,” said Bradley. “Really naive. It makes it an almost impossible challenge.”
That the naivety came from Rovers’ usually reliable left centre back Lee Grace makes defeat an even harder pill to swallow. With seconds to go, Grace’s soft pass up the left wing for Andy Lyons was picked off by Cicinho and a calamity of errors ended with Tiago’s deflected strike beating Alan Mannus.
“There were so many positives from the second half to take into next week,” said Bradley. “So when you gave away a goal last minute by playing out, when we were not set to play, is really, really naive from a really experienced group of players. The players know in the dressingroom that it should never happen with this group.
“We don’t do that at home to a team in the Leinster Senior Cup, never mind away to Ludogorets in the Champions League. It is really, really poor from us.”
More proof that European nights make reliable League of Ireland players do unreliable things.
“We knew the first half wasn’t us,” Bradley added. “Our decisions were slow, our passing was slow, we were inviting them to press us, we didn’t penetrate enough, our angles were poor. We were just off the game in every aspect. We showed them a bit too much respect.
“Second half we were better in all those departments and we were unlucky not to score – Seán Hoare’s [chance] from the corner. You score that, take 2-1 back to Tallaght and it is an entirely different tie.
“At this level it is small margins, small details and we shot ourselves in the foot right at the end.”
