Ludogorets 3
Shamrock Rovers 0
THIS WAS ALL kinds of agony for Shamrock Rovers.
They hauled themselves back from the brink of a torrid first-half with a brave, confident, performance after half-time, only to smithereen it all by conceding with the game’s final act. 2-0 going back to a second leg in Tallaght offered hope…3-0 offers nothing. That goal deflected in off Sean Hoare and he captured the mood by ripping his shirt in anger as he walked, veins bulging, from the pitch.
To get to half-time at 2-0 down was a victory of sorts, for Ludogorets were brilliant. There were times in the first-half that Rovers many tribulations in travelling to Razgrad paled into comparison with the problem of being there.
Ludogorets are group stage veterans, have won the last 11 Bulgarian titles on the spin, are dotted with internationals, backed by a billionaire pharmaceutical magnate…and showed it all in the opening half. That the Bulgarian league season has already kicked off dashed any Rovers hopes that they might catch the, undercooked, and hopes their opponents might be complacent didn’t linger long after kick-off.
Ludogorets pressed Rovers with an intensity to which an Irish side is rarely exposed, and Rovers couldn’t play the ball through midfield at all. It might have been different if Jack Byrne was picked from the start – he was on the bench having played all of 20 minutes’ football in the last six weeks – though, given Ludogorets total superiority in the first-half, it may not have made any difference at all.
Unable to play through the thirds, Rovers instead went long for Rory Gaffney’s whose tenacity and work-rate bordered on the heroic. He gouged out a sight of goal early in the first-half, driving past right-back Cicinho to the end-line, but he mistimed his cut-back into the box and it rolled behind the onrushing Richie Towell.
Ludogorets, however, whirred about in slick patterns, with Ghanian international forward Bernard Tekpetey consistently finding spaces between Lee Grace and Andy Lyons on the left side of the Rovers defence. He provided the first flash of Ludogorets’ rapier threat, sprinting to the end-line and lashing a pass across the box which, mercifully for Rovers, missed everybody.
Tekpetey’s narrow positioning wasn’t just worrying Rovers in the box: he also created space for right-back to Cicinho to gambol down the flank and for playmaker Cauly to drift in behind the Rovers midfield.
All three combined for the opening goal just past the first-half’s midway point: Cicinho went down the right wing, passed the ball back for Cauly, who whipped a first-time ball into the box was headed beyond Alan Mannus by Cypriot international forward Pieros Sotiriou, who stole a run across Sean Hoare.
The second goal arrived 10 minutes later. The quicksilver Cauly dropped a shoulder, spun and left Gary O’Neill for dead in the penalty area, before his pull-back was met by a fresh-air swipe from Tekpetey. The ball ran onto Brazilian winger Rick, whose shot from range was hacked off the line by a backpedalling Grace, whose rebound fell cruelly to Sotiriou, who slammed the ball across the line.
Rovers were then threatened to be utterly overwhelmed. Soitiriou had the ball in the net from the kick-off but was flagged offside, and five minutes later he saw a back-post header rebound off the foot of the post, arguing in vain it was diverted en route by Roberto Lopes’ hand.
Mannus had to take flight to deny Cauly a deserved goal just before the break, throwing himself across his goal to push a vicious, dipping shot over the crossbar.
The second-half brought respite for Rovers as they finally got some possession in the Ludogorets half, though were kept honest on the counter: Hoare’s superb defensive header denying Sotiriou a hat-trick: the striker would otherwise have nodded Cauly’s fabulous cross into the net.
Stephen Bradley introduced Graham Burke on the hour mark as Rovers continued to gain a foothold in the game. His arrival coincided with Andy Lyons’ blossoming: first he drive forward to win a corner, and then he saw his clever pass for Gaffney intercepted by Igor Plastun. That too ended in a corner, and it ended in Rovers’ best chance: Burke’s corner fell to Hoare in the six-yard box, but, perhaps in surprise, skewed a volley harmlessly wide.
Rovers, however, didn’t take a step back, and played with a conviction they lacked in the first-half. Burke was at the heart of it and almost conjured a goal as the game entered its final minutes, disguising a shot from the left wing as a cross and forcing Sergio Padt to scarper across his goal-line and make the first save of the night.
Bradley’s side kept pushing: another substitute, Sean Kavanagh, saw his cross narrowly evade Burke in the box.
Ludogorets were undoubtedly rattled by it all, Caufmana’s square pass found Chris McCann rather than its intended target, Cicinho, who lunged on McCann and picked up a yellow. Burke saw his free-kick brush off the wall and fly wide.
Rovers then diced with the nightmare that then befell them. Burke gave the ball away in his own half in the penultimate minute of stoppage time, with Mannus pushing away Santana’s shot.
That lesson wasn’t heeded. In the final minute, Grace left a pass up the left wing for Lyons short, which was nabbed by Cicinho and fed to substitute Despadov. He arced a stunning outside-of-the-boot cross to the back post for another replacement, Delev, whose shot was blocked by a splayed Mannus.
But the breaks again went against Rovers: the ball broke back to Igor Thiago, whose shot hit Lopes and then Hoare to fly beyond Lopes, and kill the tie.
Rovers have the safety nets of guaranteed qualifiers in the Europa and Conference Leagues, but they won’t feel like clinging to them on the long trip home.
Ludogorets: Sergio Padt; Cicinho, Olivier Verdon, Igor Plastun, Anton Nedyalkov (captain); Alex Santana, Manuel Caufmana; Rick (Spas Delev, 77′), Cauly (Igor Thiago, 89′), Bernard Tekpetey (Kiril Despadov, 70′); Pieros Sotiriou (Mattias Tissera, 89′)
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace; Ronan Finn (captain) (Sean Gannon, 75′), Dylan Watts, (Graham Burke, 60′), Chris McCann, Gary O’Neill; Andy Lyons; Richie Towell (Sean Kavanagh, 77′) Rory Gaffney
Referee: João Pinheiro (POR)
