ALTHOUGH HE ACCEPTED that Cork City were beaten by a better team, John Caulfield expressed his frustration at AEK Larnaca’s players and French referee Francois Letexier after last night’s defeat.
The City manager felt that the Cypriot side were guilty of diving on several occasions during their 1-0 Europa League first leg victory at Turner’s Cross, which leaves them well placed to progress to the third qualifying round of the competition.
“I suppose the frustrating about tonight was that it’s part of our game that diving and stuff has become the norm,” said Caulfield, who also believed that City striker Sean Maguire was too honest when staying on his feet despite seemingly being fouled in the box while the home side pressed for an equaliser late in the game.
“The referee could have stamped it out early on but he just didn’t, he left it go. It was so frustrating. Their physio didn’t come on the pitch once and I think they went down 18 times. I asked the referee’s inspector afterwards and he said ‘they were intelligent, they played the game’. But that’s not playing the game. That’s wrong.”
Caulfield’s comments come in a week when one of his own players faced similar accusations. St Patrick’s Athletic were unhappy last Sunday after Steven Beattie was awarded a penalty which Maguire converted during City’s 1-0 Premier Division win.
Caulfield continued: “When you see fellas, 6’4″, rolling all over the ground when no one has gone near them, that is frustrating. But at the end of the day we’ll move on. Europe has been very good for us over the last couple of years. It’s a great learning experience but when you come up against a team that are better than you, you have to take it on the chin.”
With Alan Bennett still sidelined due to injury, Caulfield felt that the Leesiders missed the experience of their veteran defender, who has made more European appearances than any other player in the club’s history. A 70th-minute goal from Joan Truyols was the difference between the teams on the night.
“We tried to take the game to them at home. We felt that in the first half an hour we did okay. At half-time we thought that maybe we’d get a couple of chances, but it was a difficult game because they’re so good in possession,” said Caulfield, whose side defeated Levadia Tallinn of Estonia in the first round.
“We gave away a sloppy goal. Ultimately we’d have liked to have Benno’s experience in a game like this. But at the same time, as I said before, getting over the first round was what we had to do and everything else was a bonus. You could see they’re a quality team.”
Before they travel to Cyprus for next Thursday’s second leg, City return to domestic action with a Premier Division fixture away to Bray Wanderers on Sunday afternoon. For the league leaders, it will be a fourth game in the space of a busy 11 days as they look to rebound from their first loss in 30 games in all competitions.
Caulfield: “I felt that tonight at times, particularly in the second half, maybe the third game in a week told on some of the lads, particularly our forward players, because they hadn’t got the extra zip. That’s going to happen when you’re playing in Europe because it’s a higher intensity than you’re used to week-in-week-out. That’s just the way it is.”
While Caulfield was keen to point out that the tie is far from over, the City manager admits that his side will face a difficult task in their bid to overturn a deficit next week at the AEK Arena.
“We’re talking about going into conditions where it’s oven hot, 35 degrees, humidity, and certainly we’ll have to have a different gameplan because obviously the way they keep the ball, they’re used to that and we’re not,” he said.
“We’ll have a cut, there’s no doubt we will, but at the same time, being realistic, we felt we needed to get out of here with a result going there.”
