Levadia Tallinn 0
Cork City 2
Kevin Galvin reports from Pärnu, Estonia
LUC TABI MANGA’S sending-off and Garry Buckley’s subsequent strike proved to be the turning point as Cork City overcame Levadia Tallinn in the first leg of their Europa League first round qualifier.
A sleepy second-half was sprung into life when Josip Krznarić was inches away from equalising for the hosts with a quarter-hour to go, but ultimately a sweet strike by substitute Steven Beattie settled the game — and in all likelihood, the tie — in favour of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division leaders.
City boss John Caulfield said afterwards that his side may even have scored a third, but with two away goals in the bag, it’s difficult to see the Leesiders throwing away their two-goal advantage in next Thursday’s second leg at Turner’s Cross.
It was no less than they deserved, with Buckley and Sean Maguire both having good chances to open the scoring for the visitors, who were thwarted by Sergei Lempets in the Levadia goal.
The Rebel Army really should have been ahead earlier, particularly with Gearóid Morrissey lobbing over from close range having been put under pressure by Maksim Podholjuzin.
Buckley’s chance from a Lempets parry was probably City’s best opportunity, but the netminder recovered to smother the ball after saving Stephen Dooley’s initial shot.
But with three minutes to go until the interval, Buckley put City in front when Manga was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Maguire. After being teed up by Bolger’s free-kick on the edge of the box, Buckley’s low strike beat Lempets to his right.
Levadia captain Rimo Hunt had a chance to level for the home side — who are also unbeaten domestically — just seconds after the restart but after getting in behind the City defence, he blasted over from close range.
Having seemingly settled the game, Caulfield’s side were given a shock with 15 minutes to go. Igor Dudarev’s cross was flicked into the path of Krznarić by substitute Nikita Andreev, and only for Mark McNulty’s superb stop — pushing Krznarić’s low drive onto the underside of the crossbar — parity could have been restored.
But Beattie settled proceedings with eight minutes remaining, a sublime strike into the top corner from just outside the box giving Lempets no chance as City took a giant step towards the second qualifying round by equalling their biggest ever away win in Europe.
Levadia Tallinn: S Lempets; I Dudarev, T Manga, M Podholijuzin, M Gando; J Krznarić, M Roosnupp (A Artjunin, 45+1); P Marin (N Andreev, 72), J Morelli, E Kobzar (I Teever, 88); R Hunt.
Cork City: M McNulty; J Keohane, C McCormack, R Delaney, K O’Connor; G Bolger, G Buckley (A Campion, 74), G Morrissey; K Sheppard (S Beattie, 67), S Maguire, S Dooley (S Griffin, 80).
Referee: J Burchardt (DEN).