Odra Wodzislaw 1 Shamrock Rovers 2: Two goals in the last 13 minutes secured Shamrock Rovers victory in their InterToto Cup first-round first-leg tie in Poland on Saturday night and gave the Dublin team an outstanding chance of going through to the next round.
As well as recording a deserved win against the full-time Polish side, Rovers grabbed their first away on European soil since 1982.
They can now face Odra at Richmond Park next Sunday with reasonable hopes of going through to a meeting with Slovan Liberac of Slovakia in the second round.
The win was no more than Rovers deserved as they were always a match for Odra, although they had reason to thank goalkeeper Barry Ryan for a number of outstanding saves in the first half.
Both sides created chances in the opening 45 minutes but Rovers were first to get a shot on target, with goalkeeper Mariusz Pawekek holding Tony Grant's long-range effort.
Terry Palmer went closest to breaking the deadlock on the stroke of half-time when his shot rebounded off the crossbar.
After the break Odra pushed forward relentlessly and eventually got the goal their play deserved.
A defensive mistake by Richie Byrne allowed Wojciech Gorski to reach the by-line before cutting the ball back for midfielder Martin Nowacki to slip it to the net.
Rather than settling for a 1-0 defeat, Rovers went looking for an equaliser and in the 77th minute they levelled the scores when Tony Grant set up his namesake Stephen for an an easy finish from six yards.
Six minutes later, Tony Grant scored a magnificent individual winner. After picking the ball up on the halfway line, he beat two Odra defenders before slipping the ball past Pawekek.
ODRA WODZISLAW: Pawekek; Mysor, Clos, Grzyb, Jarosz, Klus, Gorski, Nowacki, Sociz. Subs: Chalbinski for Ziarkowski (31 mins), Sakek for Grzyb (85 mins).
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Ryan; Gough, Palmer, Byrne, Keddy, Robinson, Colwell, Reynolds, S Grant, T Grant, Fitzpatrick. Sub: Molloy for Fitzpatrick (78 mins).
Referee: S Kulovic (Bosnia Herzegovina)
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