St Patrick's left with daunting away day

Uefa Cup First qualifying round, first leg:As with Derry, St Patrick's Athletic's chances of progressing to the next round of the Uefa Cup now depend on them achieving a better result away from home than they could manage at home. St Patrick's Athletic ... 0 Odense ... 0

John McDonnell had said before this game a scoreless draw would not be the worst thing that could happen his men and he hadn't changed his tune afterwards.

"They're a decent team but who says we can't go over there and get a goal?" he reasoned. "And if get one then they need two so we're still in there with a chance."

His opposite number, Lars Olsen, was a little more damning in his analysis, however, coolly observing, "Here in Ireland we showed that we were the better team so hopefully we can in Odense."

McDonnell is entirely right to hope but there's little doubt which manager's view will be reflected when the home club's sponsors, Paddy Power, set the odds for the second leg.

The home side reverted to the 3-5-2 formation that had yielded some of their best football early in the season and the switch initially went well.

They were quick to take the initiative as the game got under way and could have been in front inside three minutes.

Anthony Murphy struck a fierce shot across the face of the goal with which Ryan Guy narrowly failed to make the required contact.

Unfortunately, it was to be their best chance of the game.

For a while they retained the upper hand as the Danish back four took time to settle and repeatedly gave possession away cheaply when put under pressure.

But as they found their stride, the Danes' quality began to tell and the Irish found themselves having to work hard just to contain sharper and significantly stronger opponents.

With Odense's side men posing a persistent threat, Dave Rogers and Anto Murphy were obliged to bolster the defence rather than providing width across the middle, but that left just three across midfield and Michael Keane's lack of match fitness looked much more of an issue here than it had against Longford on Sunday.

The upshot was that the team's leading scorer, Mark Quigley, found himself being dragged back to help out, leaving Guy, on his first start for the club, alone up front.

Even when Quigley was around to share the burden, though, there were few passes of real quality for the pair to chase down, rushed high balls making up too much of the service.

In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising the little American struggled to make a serious impression.

The Danes, however, also found it hard to make headway at the other end, even if it took last-ditch defending to keep them at bay on occasion.

Twice Anto Murphy appeared to save his side's bacon, the right-sided wing back first hooking the ball out of the path of Jonas Borring as he looked set to go one on one with Barry Ryan and then heading clear Kim Christensen's cross as Borring lurked inside the far post.

Rogers did his bit too, producing a wonderfully timed intervention to prevent the Brazilian Bechera shooting after a neat back heel by the Costa Rican international Christian Bolanos.

As the second half progressed the balance of the game shifted further in favour of the visitors.

The bulk of the play was now taking place in the St Patrick's half and it was only their relentless industry, with Darragh Maguire outstanding, and the inaccuracy of their opponent's long-range shooting that kept the game scoreless.

The home side were aided defensively by the tightness of the pitch but their best hope of grabbing a goal against the run of play looked to be a Keith Fahey free, and there were few within the sort of range from which he could pose a threat.

The only ones of note yielded nothing more than misdirected headers by Stephen Paisley in the first half and Maguire late in the second.

Better directed was Johan Absalonsen's attempt six minutes from time but it came off the bar, while his injury-time shot prompted a fine stop by Ryan, who may, one suspects, have to make a few more of those in a fortnight's time if the Dubliners are somehow to spring a surprise and progress.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Maguire, Brennan, Paisley; A Murphy, Gibson (M Foley, 89 mins), Fahey, Keane (Mulcahy, 63 mins), Rogers; Guy (O'Connor, 92 mins), M Quigley.

ODENSE: Onyszko; Helveg, AM Christensen, Laursen, Jensen; Bolanos, Hansen, Bachera (Andreasen, 70 mins), Borring; Absalonsen; K Christensen (Timm, 80 mins).

Referee: F Fautrel (France).