Cork face uphill battle

Cork City's interests in this year's UEFA Cup all but came to an end at the Ullevi Stadium in Sweden last night.

The Swedish first division side IFK Gothenburg scored twice in the closing 13 minutes for a 3-0 win over Dave Barry's FAI Cup holders.

Gothenburg's top scorer, Patric Andersson, opened the scoring 10 minutes before half-time, when he volleyed home Stefan Landberg's cross after 35 minutes. The home team were lucky to escape after just five minutes, when full back Stephen Napier had a header from Kelvin Flanagan's corner cleared off the line by Par Karlsson.

Five minutes into the second half, with Cork maintaining their 4-5-1 format, Napier had another goalbound header from Ollie Cahill's free kick, saved by goalkeeper Bengt Andersson.

Gothenburg playing in front of a crowd of just over 3,000 in the 45,000 capacity Ullevi Stadium, sealed their victory with two fine goals in the closing 13 minutes.

They made it 2-0 after 73 minutes when right-sided midfielder Par Karlsson scored with a low drive and three minutes from time Emmanuel Tetteh, who had come on as a substitute, set up Karlsson for his second goal of the night.

Tetteh, who has won 21 caps for Ghana, was denied a goal himself by a brilliant one-handed save by Noel Mooney 10 minutes from time, while at the other end Gerald Dobbs forced Anderson to an equally good save.

The second leg in Cork is on August 26th.

IFK Gothenburg: B Andersson, Pedersen, Nilsson, Anegrund, Landberg, Persson, Mild, Erlingmark, P Karlsson, Hermansson (Tetteh 62), P Andersson. Subs Not Used: Ravelli, C Karlsson, Hoiland, Svensson, Henriksson, Lundstrom. Booked: Mild, P Karlsson. Goals: P Andersson 36, P Karlsson 74, 87.

Cork: Mooney, Napier, Daly, Hill, Cronin, O'Brien, Flanagan, Freyne (Dobbs 82), Herrick, Cahill, Morley (Caulfield 82). Subs Not Used: O'Donaghue, Harrington, Cotter, O'Halloran. Booked: Herrick.

Referee: A Guenov (Bulgaria).