Dolan's plans take dramatic nosedive

The impact he has made is everywhere to be seen around Richmond Park these days, but pretty much since the day he arrived there Pat Dolan has made it clear that Irish clubs have to judge themselves by their performances against European opposition. As he reflects on last night's events in Inchicore, the domestic game's most prominent exponent may be looking around for a more charitable yardstick.

The fact is that after performing well against Celtic last season, confirming their status as the country's best side during the league season since then and preparing at least as well as any National League ever has for their European outing, St Patrick's appeared to have some justification for thinking that they could improve on the Republic's dismal record at this level.

Instead they slumped to their worst defeat ever in international competition and lost their home leg by a margin exceeded only three times in the history of the National League's rather sorry involvement with UEFA run competitions. Yep, it's definitely time for a new way of measuring the relentless forward march of the game in these parts.

For a fleeting moment afterwards, Liam Buckley attempted to put a brave face on it all, laughing through gritted teeth as he told journalists that "we just have to go to Moldova now and get a six-nil win." The gallows humour out of the way, though, the home side's manager admitted that it was the worst night of his career in the game and conceded, worst of all, that it had been no more than his side had deserved.

"It's hard for me to even talk about it right now," he sighed. "When I think of the amount of preparation that we put in. We can't complain, though. We defended sloppily and they played better than I ever thought they could."

It's hard to know how good or bad Buckley really felt last night's visitors were going to be, but there's little arguing with the other bit. The Stephen McGuinness error that led to the first goal was probably the most memorable blunder of the night and given that the locals had been comfortably on top until then, Buckley probably had some cause for claiming that the suddeness of the blow had taken the wind of his players's sails.

The alarm bells should have been ringing when the 25 year-old defender first allowed Victor Berco to get away from him and latch on to a long ball over the top. On that occasion the lone Moldovan striker struck his shot well but not well enough. Second time around, you got the feeling the Dubliner wasn't going to be so lucky.

Things weren't much better around him, however. None of the normally solid St Patrick's defenders looked at all comfortable under any sort of pressure and after the bright 20-minute start, the jitters seemed to gradually spread to the rest of the team.

Eddie Gormley did better than most and even postponed Zimbru's second goal by a second or so when he cleared Vadim Boret's 10-yard shot off the line with eight minutes of the first half remaining. The strike had come at the tail-end of a fine passing move and unfortunately for Gormley his block fell kindly for another of those who had contributed to it, Serghei Iepureanu finishing convincingly in the end from just around the penalty spot.

It was to get worse, much worse, even before the break with Berco scoring an outstanding goal with a back-heel from eight yards and Ian Gilzean missing an open goal at the other end, but with more than three-quarters of the tie still to play, it was clear by then that a goal would represent no more than a very minor consolation.

Boret and Iepureanu completed the rout late in the second half with two more memorable goals leaving St Patrick's and the 90-odd supporters they will bring with them to Moldova next week with little to look forward to other than a spot of sightseeing.

Ironically, there is little to suggest from previous years that the club cannot bounce back and enjoy another successful season on the home front. As he sat alone and dejected on the far side of the pitch some 15 minutes after the final whistle, Dolan didn't look as if he would find much consolation in hearing that.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Wood; McGuinness, Campbell, Hawkins; Croly, Gormley, Osam, Russell, Burke; Molloy, Gilzean. Subs: Hallows for Russell (half-time), Harte for Osam (62 mins), Devereux for Gilzean (84 mins).

ZIMBRU CHISINAU: Romanenco; Kulyk, Telesnenko, Catinsus; Dodul, Gilazev, Iepureanu, Tropanet, Oprea, Boret; Berco. Subs: Rybakov for Berco (78 mins), Buzelischi for Dodul (91 mins).

Referee: L Batista (Portugal).

Irish League champions Glentoran last night lodged an official complaint with UEFA about Yugoslav referee Zoran Arsich after their Champions League 3-0 defeat by Bulgarian side Liteks.

Glentoran chairman Ted Brownlee questioned the wisdom of having a Yugoslav referee in charge of a match where a British team was involved.

Goals from Altan Haxhi, Alban Bushai and Manu Petrov ensured that the Belfast side had a mountain to climb in the home leg.