Bohemians show they still mean business

Through much of the 1990s it often seemed that, after the various communist parties themselves, Irish football clubs were the biggest losers from the collapse of the old Soviet empire.

Visits by a succession of unknown but apparently unbeatable eastern Europeans taught us to expect the worst when the likes of the Estonian champions came visiting.

Once again last night, Bohemians demonstrated that the tide might finally be beginning to turn.

As so often during last year's double-winning campaign, Glen Crowe's goals may be what last night's win is best remembered for but the reality was that in a decidedly uneven contest it was the Levadia rather than their hosts who were flattered by the scoreline.

After last year's heroics, the fear was that the Dublin side would be brought back to earth with a thump by an Estonian side that nobody from the Bohemians camp had even seen play before this game.

As it turned out, the home team's bench had to wait just 62 seconds for evidence that the their status as favourites wasn't simply an effort by the UEFA seeding committee to further set them up for the fall.

The last time Paul Byrne played in European competition it was for Celtic against Sporting Lisbon and, if the 29 -year-old is not quite the mover or shaker he promised to develop into during his days with the Scottish giants, he does at least give us regular flashes of ball skills required to make an impact at that sort of level.

Twice in opening 10 minutes the Dubliner was allowed time out wide in which to weigh up his crosses towards the six-yard box and on each occasion he left the Estonian side's defence regretting their lack of industry at the back.

With just short of a minute played Byrne's short corner was knocked back to him by Glen Crowe and, after the visiting goalkeeper badly misjudged the floated ball in from the left, Shaun Maher had only to get his head to the ball to be sure that it would find the back of the net.

It was the sort of setback that a be might have been recovered from so early in the game, but far from steadying themselves in the wake of the goal the Levadia players looked consistently unsure of themselves, particularly in defence where Byrne was to punish some further timidity with a curling cross that Glen Crowe neatly turned goalwards with his head.

Rusty as the Irish champions might have looked from then on, they were rarely tested. Avery John, back from Shelbourne and in for Dave Hill, looked like his old self again, commanding at the back and always a threat when moving forward on the ball while Mark Rutherford's pace and Crowe's movement around the area were, combined, all a bit too much for a side whose two previous European campaigns have ended with heavy defeats by much bigger names from the old Eastern bloc.

In central midfield Kevin Hunt and Stephen Caffrey were enjoying a profitable evening too and , as the game went on, the extent of the home side's dominance became such that only the lingering threat of an away goal maintained the sense of a genuine contest .

A couple of times Valeri Bondarenko's side threatened to nick the goal that would have left Pete Mahon with some cause for concern next week but after Rutherford was brought down in the box 11 minutes into the second period and Crowe made it 3-0 from the penalty -spot Vitali Leitan squandered their best chance of the night from a dozen yards out.

Rutherford had a decent looking claim for another penalty late on while Crowe really should have had one or even two more before he left to a standing ovation.

It's hard to see it mattering for, with a comfortable margin under their belts at the final whistle, the Bohemians players left the pitch knowing that only a spectacular collapse away next Wednesday could prevent them earning a crack at Swedish outfit Halmstad in the next round.

Bohemians manager Pete Mahon said: "We cannot take anything for granted in the second leg, "Mahon said. "But I am delighted with the victory and it was important that we did not concede any goals before travelling for the return game in Estonia next week," Mahon said.

BOHEMIANS: Russell; Shelley (O'Connor, 88 mins), Maher, John, Webb; Byrne, Caffrey, Hunt; Nesovic (Harkin 83 mins), Crowe (O'Neill, 85 mins), Rutherford.

LEVADIA MAARDU: Martinsons; J Leitan (Lepik, 74 mins), Kalimullin, Tatarinov, Krasnopjorov; Kulikov, Bragin, Rotskov, Fenin (Olumets, 88 mins); Krom (V Leitan, 58 mins), Tselnokov.

Referee: D Schoch (Switzerland)