Rovers fail to make late chances count

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND, FIRST LEG: Shamrock Rovers 0 FK Ekranas 0:A HOST of missed late chances on a frustrating night for Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium leaves Ekranas holding a distinct advantage ahead of the second leg in Lithuania next week.

Rovers face an uphill task as they will face a side that hasn’t lost the home leg of their last five European ties. It might have been so different. All Rovers’ best work in the final third came in the last 10 minutes as they wasted four clear-cut scoring openings as they finally had Ekranas on the rack.

Gary Twigg came close to scoring on 80 minutes, controlling Billy Dennehy’s cross to take it round Emilijus Zubas only for the ball to get stuck in his feet and allow the goalkeeper to recover.

Within a minute Twigg put Ronan Finn in on goal only for the midfielder to blast a shot from an angle off the crossbar.

The chances kept coming for Rovers as Chris Turner got on the end of Dennehy’s cross to shoot waywardly over the top.

Then, in the final minute, Stephen O’Donnell, whose penalty in Belgrade last year brought that historic breakthrough to the groups stages in Europe, looked sure to score after Finn and Turner worked him through. But his shot, which appeared to get a touch off Zubas, was wide.

Manager Stephen Kenny threw up one surprise in his starting line-up as Daryl Kavanagh made his first start since the summer break.

In the build-up to the game, Ekranas manager Valda Urbonas had touched on the stereotypical physical style of teams from these islands. Yet it was his tall, imposing side who showed an over-zealousness in the tackle in the early exchanges with Serb Marko Andelkovic booked for a nasty foul on Killian Brennan.

Rovers started well without actually threatening and it was Ekranas who registered the first effort on goal on 26 minutes; Yani Urdinov laying the ball off for Aurimas Kucys to drill a 30-yard drive into the arms of Oscar Jansson.

While that came from the first spell of pressure from Ekranas, Rovers promptly responded with their first opening on 31 minutes. Conor Powell found Gary McCabe in space on the left and his square ball brought a first time effort from Brennan that curved away from Zubas’ left-hand post.

They might have been ahead three minutes later from the most incisive move of the first half. The impressive Kavanagh threaded a delightful through ball for the run of Finn. Stretching, the midfielder struggled to make decent contact as he poked wide.

Confident on the ball, Ekranas continued to get forward ably and Ken Oman did well to take the ball off the toe of Andelkovic before Kucys once more tested Jansson from distance.

There was more urgency about Rovers on the resumption with Brennan finally getting their first shot on target four minutes in, though the effort scarcely worked Zubas. Finn’s tenacity then saw him dispossess Kucys and surge forward only to scuff his shot straight at Zubas. Ekranas looked rattled for a while, relief coming in the form of a superb run past Finn and Stephen Rice by Andelkovic before he brought the save of the night from Jansson with a left-foot drive from outside the area.

Rovers pressed late all for the all important goal, but it wasn’t to come. Substitute Turner’s shot on target lacked enough power to trouble Zubas while Finn had a shot blocked away by Kucys as Ekranas worked desperately to clear a long throw from Pat Sullivan before the late flurry of action failed to give Rovers a lead to take to Lithuania next week.

SHAMROCK ROVERS:Jansson; Sullivan, Sives, Oman, Powell; Rice, Brennan (O'Donnell, 83 mins.); Kavanagh (Dennehy, 69 mins.), Finn, McCabe (Turner, 73 mins.); Twigg.

EKRANAS: Zubas; Luksa, Dedura, Samusiovas, Urdinov; Tomkevicius, Kucys; Andelkovic (Morvilas, 90+2 mins); Varnas, Kymantas, Vertelis.

Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland).