UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND, SECOND LEG: Derry City 1 Skonto FC 0: DERRY CITY are bound for Bulgaria next week following victory over Skonto Riga at an electric Brandywell last night.
Midfielder Kevin Deery was hailed the hero when his fortuitous, 57th-minute strike from 35 yards crept into the Riga net.
Derry will now face CSKA Sofia next Thursday night in the third preliminary round.
With Derry holding a precious away goal in the 1-1 result in Latvia the previous Thursday night, Deery’s low shot found the Skonto net with goalkeeper Germans Malins making no attempt to save. It was a thoroughly deserved win for Stephen Kenny’s side, who bossed the second half and held their nerve in an electrifying atmosphere.
Kenny’s claim that the game remained finely balanced was correct. Skonto had their chances in the opening period when goalkeeper Gerard Doherty produced two top-drawer stops.
With both teams prepared to attack, the attendance was certainly kept on its toes.
The Brandywell erupted when last week’s goal-scoring hero, Tam McManus, appeared to be hauled down inside the box, but Dutch referee Pol Van Boekel dismissed those appeals.
In the 15th minute Skonto right winger Aleksandrs Cauna produced a superb shot but Doherty got down at his near post to make a vital save.
With the Latvians breaking at pace and in numbers, Derry’s Peter Hutton played a captain’s role when his superb challenge inside the area denied Blanks a shot on goal from close range.
Striker Sammy Morrow was stretchered off during the early stages of the second half with what appeared an ankle problem, and with Ruaidhri Higgins entering the fray and, not a front-line player, it appeared Derry were attempting to hold onto that precious away goal.
But there was a surprise in store in the 57th minute when Deery, who did not travel to Riga, found the Skonto net.
It seemed a fortuitous strike, as Deery’s effort appeared to have been covered by the goalkeeper.
However, the ball crept into the corner of the net as Malins made no attempt to save, thinking the shot was going wide.
DERRY CITY:Doherty; McCallion, Delaney, Hutton, O'Brien; McGlynn (Scullion, 87 mins, Deery, Molloy, Stewart (Farren, 73 mins); Morrow, McManus.
SKONTO-RIGA: Malins; Golubevs, Hscamoniqs, Gamezardashvili, Smirnovs; Kozlovs, Fertovs (Mingazov, 65 mins), Tarasovs (Laizans, 68 mins), Cauna; Junior (Agafonov, 83 mins), Blanks.
Referee: P Van Boekel (Netherlands).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)