Kenny's men fail to rise to occasion

SOCCER/UEFA Cup First qualifying round, second leg/Bohemians - 1 Levadia Tallinn - 3: On Monday, when considering his side's prospects in last night's UEFA Cup qualifier, Bohemians manager Stephen Kenny had expressed some discomfort with the balance of this tie, suggesting that the scoreless draw left the Dubliners vulnerable even if they played well but conceded a solitary away goal to the Estonians.

The unmentioned danger, of course, was that his players would not play well and concede more than one, which is precisely what happened as they limped out of the competition to a distinctly ordinary but clearly committed Estonian side that needed to do no more than take their chances against a hopelessly out-of-sorts Bohemians team.

Few of the home side emerged with any serious credit. Fergal Harkin had a good first half and continued to pose a threat from midfield in the second, until he was switched to right back in the closing stages. Kevin Hunt was as busy as ever in the centre of the park, if a little less effective than we have come to expect on the big occasions.

The return of Colin Hawkins, missing because of injury for the past couple of weeks, looked decidedly premature, while, if last night's finishing was anything to go by, the addition of Dominic Foley to the Bohemians squad is timely indeed.

Few of the locals had settled by the time the first goal was scored 10 minutes in, but there was still no forgiving the way in which Levadia were handed their advantage. Dmitiri Kruglov's cross presented little threat, but Stephen Caffrey's swipe at the ball sent it flying inches wide of the angle. From the corner, Kruglov's inswinging delivery was sweet and Vitoldas Cepauskas left Caffrey in his wake as he powered forward to head past Kelly from eight yards out.

The goal served as a wake-up call and Bohemians swung into action, but Levadia now had something to defend and they did just that with determination. For long stretches the Bohemians approach work was scrappy, while at the back Hawkins was caught napping more than once.

After a slow start Harkin was outstanding, though, and his runs from wide on the right yielded many of the chances that came to the Dublin side over the remainder of the first half.

The closest Bohemians came to equalising before the break was when Dave Morrison drove a fierce, 20-yard shot off the crossbar 33 minutes in, but there were other opportunities that could have produced more, most notably a terribly poor left-footed volley by Glen Crowe from just six yards out.

The striker made amends 10 minutes into the second period when Simon Webb's angled free from the right prompted some comical defending before Crowe produced one of his better finishes from close range.

The breakthrough appeared to come at a good time, not long before a hint of desperation might have been expected to creep into the search for an equaliser. Briefly, indeed, it showed every sign of coming good for Kenny and his men. Eight minutes later they came very close to finally taking a lead in the tie, but Crowe's attempt to slot the ball into an almost empty net was this time hopelessly inadequate.

The miss was quickly to prove costly. With just over 20 minutes to play Konstantin Nahk sent Vladimir Tselnokov clear into the box and, as the statuesque Bohemians defence looked on, the substitute beat Kelly from a tight angle.

There was now little for Kenny to do but gamble and over the next eight minutes he replaced his full-backs with attackers. The result wasn't what he intended, because Levadia scored again, Marius Dovydenas this time skipping past a couple of particularly hapless tackles before firing unchallenged past Kelly.

Needing three goals now to qualify, the tie was clearly beyond Bohemians, who played out the remaining 12 minutes like men who knew they had let themselves down.

At the final whistle the tiny band of visiting supporters celebrated the unexpected success while a roughly equal number booed Bohemians off the pitch.

For the rest there was just that familiar sense of disappointment as an Irish team failed to produce their best when it mattered.

BOHEMIANS: Kelly; Lynch (Keddy, 71 mins), Hawkins, Heary, Webb (Ward, 77 mins); Harkin, Hunt, Caffrey (Ryan, half-time), Morrison; Crowe, Grant.

LEVADIA TALLINN: Kotenko; Sisov, Hohlov-Simson, Cepauskas, Kruglov; Leitan (Ratnikov, 80 mins), Dmitrijev, Nahk, Dovydenas; Voskoboinikov (Vassiljev, 73 mins), Arbeiter (Tselnokov, half-time).

Referee: R Krajnc (Slovenia).