Haka have too much rhythm for Cork

FC Haka 4 Cork City 0 (Haka win 6-2 on aggregate):IT WAS a demoralising exit from the Uefa Cup for Alan Mathews' Cork City side as they went down to a far superior Haka outfit in Valkeakoski last night

Two goals in both halves destroyed the lacklustre Cork challenge, as they were blown away by a Haka outfit that boasted the qualities of returning Russian veteran playmaker Valeri Popovitch, his 15th minute chipped goal the highlight of an exceptional performance.

Cork found themselves two down after only a quarter of an hour. Once again it was Janne Mahlakaarto who was on hand to convert the opener as he had done in the first leg. And this despite his being deployed on the right instead of up front as he had been at Turner's Cross.

A Haka counter-attack in the 10th minute allowed front man Toni Lehtinen to expose Cork's left flank and he then crossed from the right wing to Mahlakaarto, whose spinning tap-in evaded Michael Devine.

A lovely follow-up arrived five minutes later when Popovitch started and finished his own move. He threaded a nice pass through to Lehtinen, who returned the favour with a well weighted pull back. The Russian then chipped a marvellous shot to the far top left-hand corner.

The gap was stretched further in the 70th minute when Mikko Manninen scored from just inside the box. It went from bad to worse eight minutes later when sub Valeri Minkunen scored straight from a free before Denis Behan earned a second yellow card in the 81st minute.

FC HAKA:Dovbnya; Kangaskorpi (capt), Okkonen, Parviainen, Viljanen (Minkenen, 61); Mahlakaarto, Kauppila, Fowler, Manninen (Nikkilä, 85); Popovitch; Lehtinen (Mattila, 52).

CORK CITY:Devine; Horgan, Murray, Sullivan, Danny Murphy; Lordan (Behan, ht), Healy, Gamble, Darren Murphy, Kearney (Ryan, 62); Mooney (O'Flynn, 82).

Referee:R Lajkus (Latvia).