Fenlon laments 'sloppy' goal

SOCCER/Bohemians 0 SV Salzburg 1: RED BULL’S European campaign belatedly grew wings last night at Dalymount Park where Mark …

SOCCER/Bohemians 0 SV Salzburg 1:RED BULL'S European campaign belatedly grew wings last night at Dalymount Park where Mark Rossiter's late error allowed Patrik Jezek to send Pat Fenlon's men crashing out of the Champions League qualifiers just two minutes short of the final whistle.

With the two Bohemians centre halves outstanding over the course of a tight match, Brian Murphy hadn’t a save of any real note to make up to that crucial point.

But when he came off his line and Rossiter hopelessly misjudged his attempt to head an angled cross from the right, Jezek gratefully sent a looping header from 10 yards beyond the goalkeeper and into the net.

“I take responsibility for the goal,” said the disconsolate defender afterwards. “I should have cleared the ball but I didn’t. I’d looked at Murphy who was coming out to challenge the big lad (Marc Janko), then I headed it but my player just moved behind me and headed it in.”

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Fenlon lamented the fact his side’s exit had been caused by such a “sloppy” goal but the manager insisted “the players had all been terrific up until then, over the two legs they didn’t deserve to go out and especially not like that.”

The night ended on a sour note between the two managers with Fenlon, apparently after a minor altercation, accusing his Dutch counterpart Huub Stevens of being “totally disrespectful” over the course of the two encounters.

However it is the former Schalke 04 boss who can now turn his attention to a visit by Dinamo Zagreb next week when, one suspects, his players will have to be a good deal more inventive if they are to avoid being swiftly dumped into the Europa League.

Bohemians, meanwhile, must now concentrate on the top-of-the-table clash against Shamrock Rovers this weekend although Fenlon admits that last night’s defeat “will take a little while to get over”.

His side’s heartbreak will be all the greater because they had held their own for the best part of the evening and there had been echoes of Shelbourne’s defeat in La Coruna five years ago as Jason Byrne rushed a chance to put his side in front 20 minutes from time.

Joseph Ndo found the the Dubliner in space on the edge of the area and Byrne seemed to have the chance to take a little more time over his shot. In the end, though, he fired straight at Douglas Gustafsson and the home side’s best chance of the night was gone.

As they did last week, the Austrians pushed forward from the off but Bohemians settled quickly and while Franz Schiemer went close with a header from a corner within the first minute the early exchanges were generally pretty even.

The home side were unchanged from last Wednesday night but Stevens had altered both his personnel and his approach with Thomas Augustinussen sitting in front of his back four with the intention of marshalling Ndo while Christoph Leitgeb, a quick and skilful midfielder, played just in front of him so as to provide a link between the defence and the attack.

The 24-year-old’s passing was a key element of the visiting side’s armoury for most of the night and he looked capable too when pushing forward with the ball at his feet, most memorably after 15 minutes when he was allowed to get within firing range but sent his low shot well wide of the target.

Fenlon’s men created a couple of early chances with Byrne’s looping header from Killian Brennan’s free and an attempted Conor Powell cross from the left that almost caught the goalkeeper off his line the best of them. But, on balance, Salzburg again looked the more threatening of the two sides.

The home side had to work hard to retain possession while pushing the ball forward and the willingness of the visiting players to close their opponents down almost on the edge of the Bohemians box produced a few heart-stopping moments for the home fans.

The Dubliners found things particularly difficult at times on the left flank where Brennan, looking like a man a little too used to playing against lesser players, didn’t help matters by repeatedly losing possession while behind him Powell’s positioning looked suspect more than once.

In central midfield and defence, though, the Irish champions looked consistently impressive. Ken Oman and Brian Shelley were outstanding for most of the night with Janko largely anonymous from beginning to end.

In front of them Paul Keegan and Gary Deegan also worked tirelessly to win possession and start driving their side forward but Brennan, in particular, failed to make the most of the opportunities out wide.

And Ndo, for all his class and composure, was a little too ponderous in possession at times.

Crowe struggled again in the lone striker’s role with the arrival of Jason McGuinness alongside him as Bohemians suddenly found themselves having to chase the game late on coming too late to make any real difference. Byrne did pose a threat from the right but couldn’t quite convert either of his most clearcut chances.

The Salzburg attack, on the other hand, laboured through most of the night without creating much of consequence and looked to have run out of ideas before what looked no more than a hopeful ball into the penalty area in the dying minutes led to a scarcely deserved winner.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; Rossiter (McGuinness, 87 mins), Shelley, Oman, Powell; Byrne (Cronin, 84 mins), Deegan, Ndo, Keegan, Brennan (A Murphy, 66 mins); Crowe.

SV SALZBURG: Gustafsson; Schwegler, Schiemer, Dudic, Ulmer (Jezek, 59 mins); Augustinussen; Leitgeb (Nelisse, 73 mins); Tchoyi, Ilic (Vladavic, 63 mins), Svento; Janko.

Referee: A Stavrev (Macedonia).