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Lacklustre performance on artificial surface in Finland heaps pressure on Hoops to salvage unravelling campaign
Lacklustre performance on artificial surface in Finland heaps pressure on Hoops to salvage unravelling campaign Shamrock Rovers players dejected after the loss to KuPS in the Uefa Conference League tie in Finland.
Photograph: Mika Kylmaniemi/Inphobefore this costly collapse in Finland eliminated Stephen Bradley’s side from the Uefa Conference League, suddenly there is a sharp focus on Sunday’s trip to face Derry City at the Brandywell. If St Pat’s beat Waterford on Friday, Rovers’ sometime 10-point lead at the top of the Premier Division will have been reduced to one.
The real damage of defeat to KuPS, following a messy own goal by Graham Burke, is the loss of Uefa prize money.was on offer if they had reached the league phase for a third straight season. Even a draw in Europe is worth €8,000 more than the €125,000 they will earn for retaining their league title.
Champions League draw: Troy Parrott set for Arsenal and Bayern Munich clashes with Real BetisChampions League draw: Arsenal to host Real Madrid in league phase; Atlético travel to Liverpool Similar to last week’s first leg in Tallaght, Gustav Engvall made a game changing impact off the bench for KuPS. Just when Rovers were getting used to the astroturf, the Swedish forward moved away from Matt Healy only to be upended by Pico Lopes.
The Rovers captain swallowed a yellow card and began to prepare for a very manageable free-kick into the box. Or so it seemed. Clinton Antwi’s delivery found Akseli Puukko unmarked and his header back across goal led to the calamitous own goal on 75 minutes. There was plenty of blame to go around as Aaron Greene glanced the ball onto Burke’s head to leave the wrong-footed Ed McGinty with no chance.
Shamrock Rovers' Michael Noonan contests for a header during the game against KuPS in Finland. Photograph: Mika Kylmaniemi Kuvien/Inpho “There was no danger whatsoever,” said Bradley.
“It is a really poor goal. It typifies the goals we have given up in Europe this year. It is soft and very unlike us. But ultimately it has cost us.
Bradley played his aces just after the hour mark. The Rovers attack tends to revolve around Jack Byrne and Burke but the Republic of Ireland internationals were crowded out of the first-leg as KuPS did their tactical homework to secure a 1-1 result. For the second-leg, Bradley held his most creative players in reserve until a few minutes after the Hoops began to take control of a lacklustre contest.
It had been a tetchy encounter with hefty challenges denying any flow until John O’Sullivan slipped a pass for Greene to turn and force a decent save from Austrian goalkeeper Johannes Kreidl. That prompted Bradley to introduce Byrne and Burke. KuPS’s young manager Miika Nuutinen reacted with two replacements of his own.
The Finns initially created the better chances through their Polish striker Piotr Parzyszek yet, as the game wore on, Rovers seemed keen to avoid extra-time and a penalty shootout. But it was Engvall’s burst from midfield and Burke’s mishap that settled this tie. Rovers had 15 minutes to save their European campaign. Bradley sent on his teenagers, Michael Noonan and Adam Brennan, but they never got to grips with a poor surface as KuPS deservedly progressed to the group stage.
Afterwards, Bradley refused to blame the lack of a winter break over the past three years. The price of success cannot be used as an excuse for failure, even if Rovers’ thirty-somethings appeared to tire in the second-half.
“How can we perform so well at home, yet not perform away? That cannot be the sole reason for the goals we have given up in Europe. Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley and his players applaud supporters after the match. Photograph: Mika Kylmaniemi Kuvien/Inpho “This is a very special group of people,” he added.
“They will continue to be excellent in Europe, it just was not meant to be this season. We will review as a collective, as a staff, when there is no emotion involved at the end of the season. Having guided Rovers through European campaigns since 2016, Bradley was particularly disappointed with the performance.
“The game was exactly where we wanted it to be. There was no danger until the goal. We had the momentum and then we brought on Graham and Jack to try and hurt them.
“Usually it is a team that is starting out on their European journey that makes mistakes like that. Not a team that has been to the group stages and played a lot of big games in Europe. ”McGinty; Grace, Lopes, Stevens; Sobowale, Watts , Healy, J O’Sullivan , Fitzgerald; Greene , Afolabi .
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