Brondby take full advantage of chances

It may be famed as the home of the world's best known author of fairy tales but these past couple of night's Copenhagen has been sending many of its visitors home with heavy hearts and only sad stories to tell.

On Wednesday Lazio suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of champions FCK and left for home amid rumblings that a disputed penalty had turned the game. Last night the Shelbourne camp was no happier than the Italian one had been as it prepared to leave Hans Christian Andersen territory.

Like Dino Zoff, Dermot Keely was still talking about this two legged yarn producing a happy ending but in the Dubliners' case the chances of it coming to pass seem a good deal more remote.

The goal they conceded in each half would, by themselves, have been a disappointing enough return on Shelbourne's night given the success they enjoyed in taking the game to their far more accomplished opponents for the best part of what turned out to be a tough and testing encounter.

But then there was Stephen Geoghegan's late dismissal for a clash with his marker, the five bookings and an injury to Dessie Baker that forced the striker to use crutches as he clambered aboard the team bus outside Brondby's ground.

In the circumstances it was hardly surprising that the mood amongst the players and officials afterwards suggested that the return leg in Tolka will be less than friendly too.

Keely, though, remained positive. The performance, he said, had pleased him even if the goals had both been soft and one of the league's most experienced veterans of Europe insisted that a disappointing night had managed to throw up further evidence of the league's progression.

"It was the same old story tonight, clinical finishing and poor defending but we're only starting down the road of professionalism compared to the Scandinavians," he said. "There's clearly a gap but we're moving in the right direction. I mean five years ago I went to Malmo with Dundalk and the only thing we cared about was keeping the score down, I don't think you could say that about us tonight."

The Dubliners had, in fact, given their hosts a battle to remember but having survived a couple of even earlier scares, the close range goal they conceded to Mattias Jonson after just 15 minutes meant that there wasn't any great need for the Danes to leave themselves stretched at the back.

Eight minutes into the second period Shelbourne had their best chance to the get the goal Keely had said beforehand would mark the trip out as a success. Davy Byrne provided the angled ball into the box and Dessie Baker glanced a header towards the bottom left corner but, when the need arose, Brondby's veteran international goalkeeper Morgens Krogh showed he could still get around his goalmouth nippily enough.

A goal at that point might have shaken up the home side and given us something more memorable by way of a contest. Instead they kept their lead and looked happy enough to get men behind the ball while striking swiftly when the opportunity arose.

Within 17 minutes the approach nearly paid off with Jonson just failing to control his attempt to volley home Mads Jorgensen's fine cross from the left but they didn't have to wait much longer to achieve the target of a two-goal lead to take to Dublin.

Jonson, this time, was the one to provide the cross and Ruben Bagger stole in ahead of Owen Heary to head the ball between Steve Williams and his post.

It was scant reward for the amount of effort the Dubliners had put in but rather effectively underlined the gap between the sides that Keely talked about afterwards.

So too did the fact that things then went from bad to worse when Geoghegan, was sent off allegedly for use of the elbow, before he had been on the pitch long enough to work up a sweat.

"At least it shows," sighed Keely in reference to the Bosnian official afterwards, "that the bad ones aren't all Irish."

BRONDBY: Krogh; Ribers (Johansen, half-time), Rasmussen, Nielsen, Skarbalius; Niznik (Ravn, 78 mins), Jorgensen (Krogh, 90 mins), Nordin, LindrupBagger, Jonson.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Hutton, McCarthy, Minnock; R Baker, D Byrne, Crawford, B Byrne (Fitzpatrick, 77 minutes); D Baker, Foran (Geoghegan, 84 mins).

Referee: S Zrnic (Bosnia-Herzegovina).