Pat Fenlon looks to upset Odds at home

It may be a long time since any manager here has had players with the combined experience of Damien Duff, Stephen McPhail and Keith Fahey in their squad but for Shamrock Rovers manager Pat Fenlon it’s all a bit academic just now for he does not have any of them available for the Europa League game against the wonderfully named Odd

BK of Norway.

All three are injured as the club seeks to inch a little closer to another group stage appearance but Fenlon could have team captain Conor Kenna back in from the start which would be a major boost if the defensive mayhem that went on through the first half of last week’s game against Progres Niederkorn is anything to go by.

Irish sides don’t have a great record against Norwegian opposition but if you take Rosenborg out of the equation, it’s not entirely disastrous either. Odd, as it happens, arrive fresh from a 3-0 defeat at the hands of their league leaders and after a run of four domestic games during which they have failed to win while conceding nine times.

Still, their 0-3 away victory against Sheriff of Moldova plus the somewhat larger sprinkling of internationals they possess, give a sense of the sort of threat they can pose with Fenlon acknowledging that this evening’s opponents will certainly pose his side a considerable challenge.

“They’re a good side,” he says. “They seem to play to a certain system, don’t really differ from it too much. They get a lot of people forward at times, flood the box and play a lot off second balls. At times they sit off the play as well and let you have a little bit and try to counter attack.

“They mix it up really well. Both full backs are very good on the ball, good passers of the ball, and the holding midfielder allows the other ones to go and join the attack so they do get a lot of bodies forward.”

‘Their intention’

“I think it’s a different way of playing,” he continues. “There’s not many teams play like that in the league to be fair. They were 3-0 up fairly early in the game over there (in Moldova) and that showed their intention, that they wanted to go and get a goal quickly.

“That’s something we’ve got to be aware of. Sometimes you can go into Europe and teams will come here and sit off and maybe say that they’ll take what they can get on the night and try to win the game at home. But I think they’ll come and have a go.”

His intention is that Rovers will too although he acknowledges the importance of not allowing the visitors the bonus of an away goal.