SOCCER/Drogheda Utd 2 Levadia Talinn 1:A LACK of consistency over the last few months has seriously hampered Drogheda United's attempt to defend their first ever League of Ireland title but last night we saw their Jekyll as well as their Hyde all in the space of 90 frantic minutes up at Dalymount Park.

Had Paul Doolin's men played in the first half the way they did in the second then they would surely be able to travel to Estonia for next week's second leg of this Champions League first qualifying round tie confident of progressing to a meeting with Dynamo Kiev.

Instead, they go with matters finally balanced although they will take a fair bit of confidence from the extent to which they outplayed their opponents for the bulk of the last 45 minutes here and from the fact that they might easily added to the goals scored in the 50th and 69th minutes by Ollie Cahill and Fahrudin Kuduzovic respectively.

By the end, the Levadia players looked severely shaken for, having come through the opening exchanges unscathed and then nicked a goal gifted to them by Graham Gartland's terrible mistake, they were very lucky to get way with just a single goal deficit.

Kuduzovic certainly should have at least one more goal whole Shane Robinson reckoned he should have a penalty when his shot was blocked with a hand late on but the referee felt Andrei Kalimullin hadn't known too much about it.

Richie Baker had an outstanding night for the home side while Robinson got better and better as the game went on but there was little to fault about the second half performance other than the finishing. True, United should have made more of the corners that came their way but when Baker's long-range free came crashing back off the post for Kuduzovic to nudge home they could still claim to have produced comfortably the most memorable set-piece of the night. Their first goal had been a cracker too with Stuart Byrne winning the ball out on the right before sending in a tempting cross from the right that Ollie Cahill headed in off the underside of the bar. If only their defending had been nearly so good earlier on.

Doolin started with just one striker and in terms of exerting some pressure on the visitors, a great deal depended on the ability of his wide men, Cahill and Baker to provide support to Kuduzovic.

It all began brightly enough with United looking to make the most of their numerical advantage in midfield by probing for openings. More than once Baker threatened to get the better of his marker, left back Taijo Teniste, as he darted in towards goal. The former Shelbourne winger looked to have put Robinson clean through midway through the opening half only for his team mate's control to let him down.

Kuduzovic, though, could provide only a limited presence around Levadia's box by himself and there was little to trouble their goalkeeper apart from a couple of floated set-pieces.

Goalkeeper Dan Connor was only marginally busier during the opening 20 minutes when Gartland's error handed the visitors their precious away goal.

Tarmo Kink looked to be pursuing a lost cause as he chased while the ball was worked back to the centre half but, anticipating a pass to Connor, he bypassed Gartland and picked up pace just as the defender hopelessly misjudged the amount of power required. Connor raced desperately out and Gartland retreated hurriedly towards the goal line but the Estonian rounded the goalkeeper before firing home.

Gartland then twice came close to compounding his team's problems by allowing long high balls to bounce over him as opponents lurked nearby only to be saved on each occasion by his goalkeeper. Still, the jitters briefly seemed contagious and the half ended with Connor playing the ball straight to Sander Puri who might have done better with his long range effort to lob the goalkeeper.

Doolin must have been livid with it all and the United supporters left him in no doubt about their frustration at the break. But the home side were a different proposition after the interval.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Connor; Byrne, Maher, Gartland, Kendrick; Baker, Hughes, Keegan (Zayed, 52 mins), Robinson, Cahill; Kuduzovic.

LEVADIA TALLINN Tallinn: Kaalma; Sisov, Kalimullin, Lemsalu, Teniste; Puri (Leitan, 67 mins), Nahk, Petrenko (Marmor, 82 mins), Kink; Malov; Andreev (Zelinski, 92 mins).

Referee: G Rossi (San Marino).