No problem for confident Bohemians

Even the elements failed to dampen Bohemians' progress in Europe as the Irish double winners duly booked a UEFA Champions League second-round date with Swedish side Halmstad BK after this disciplined display in the thunder and lightning of the Lillekula Stadium in Tallinn. A composed, tenacious first-half by Pete Mahon's side laid the foundations for another great result in Europe for Bohemians as Ireland's UEFA co-efficient received a further boost. Rarely in danger of letting the Estonians back into the game, superb performances from Wayne Russell in goal and, in particular, Avery John in central defence gave Bohemians a telling edge. Not even the game being temporarily interrupted seven minutes from time by an electrical storm upset Bohemians - the teams returning to play out the remaining minutes in semi-darkness."I think we're on a roll," beamed Mahon. "I told the boys in the dressing room before the game that I was with a team in 1990 that started like this. We got a little bit of a run going and the adrenalin started flowing and we started picking up wins here and there. Before we knew where we were, we were in the FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road. "This team wants to do well. They are full-time professional players. They act like full-time professional players. It's just tremendous what we have achieved over the last two games. "Halmstad is a step into the unknown again but we will be ready for them. We know nothing about them apart from the fact that they are Swedish champions. But we will familiarise ourselves with them over the next few days. They know all about us and must be impressed."They won't treat us lightly and I'm confident that we will do well. They saw us in Dublin and were represented here. but we are just glad to get this one out of the way."Conscious of not conceding an early goal, Bohemians started superbly and would not have been flattered to be in front at the break. Their best chance came on nine minutes when they spurned a great chance to kill off the tie completely. Mark Rutherford cleverly skipped away down the left to cross for well-positioned striker Alex Nesovic inside the area. But Nesovic's first shot was bravely blocked by Dmitri Kulikov, and though the ball ran kindly back, his second effort was cleared off the line by Sergei Bragin. Then, on 18 minutes, the always threatening Rutherford was fouled 30 yards out and Paul Byrne stung the fingers of Ernest Martinsons with a powerful free-kick. Crowe, such a vital influence with two goals in the first leg at Dalymount Park, came within inches of putting Bohemians in front on the night six minutes after the break, but his header powered over the crossbar from Stephen Caffrey's cross in from the right. Mahon was full of praise for men of the match Russell and John. "That's typical of Wayne. He didn't have a save to make until the 23rd minute but was as sharp as ever. He was responsible for us keeping a clean sheet in Dublin and came up trumps again. I can't praise him enough. Avery was great as well. They were superb but so were all the lads." FC LEVADIA MAARDU: Martinsons; Tatarinov, Kalimullin, Krasnopjorov; Kulikov, Bragin, Rotskov, Fenin; Krom, Tselnokov, Leitan. Sub: Olumets for Leitan (77 mins). BOHEMIANS: Russell; Shelley, Maher, John, S. Webb; Byrne, Hunt, Caffrey, Rutherford; Crowe, Nesovic. Sub: Harkin for Nesovic (76 mins.), O'Neill for Crowe (91 mins.). Referee: K. Stadsgaard (Denmark).