STEPHEN BRADLEY HAILED a โspecial, special nightโ after a 98th-minute penalty miss from Vikingur Reykjavik captain Nikolaj Hansen ensured Shamrock Rovers progressed to the second round of qualifying for the Champions League.
The 2-1 win, courtesy of a Johnny Kenny brace, means the Hoops will have a minimum of three more European ties this season.
Sparta Prague visit next week and the nature of the championsโ path means Rovers will have safety nets in both the Europa League and Conference League.
But their Champions League dream is still alive for at least one more round.
Rovers survived Jack Byrneโs sending off with a quarter of an hour to go and when Roberto Lopes gave away a foul on Valdimar Ingimundarson in the 96th minute it looked as though the tie was destined for extra-time.
Hansenโs penalty then struck the post and went wide with Bradley admitting it was an emotional night.
โI donโt think I can have too many more nights like that,โ he said.
โA special, special, night. We spoke before the game with the players about making a special memory. Theyโve been brilliant.โ
Bradley said he thought his side would be in for โa long nightโ had the tie went to extra-time but the resilience of his players shone through.
โDown to ten men, last 15. You dig in, earn that bit of luck.
โWe know, we spoke about it yesterday, we know that opportunities open up now. Itโs a really important game. Weโre against a very good side, we know we have to play in a completely different game; we knew they wouldnโt expect how we played early on. We play in that easy part, we went on the front foot.โ
On goalscorer Kenny he added: โTenacious, this year he has been the best forward in the country by a mile. All the stats were pointing towards this for Johnny, he wasnโt scoring, we knew he needed time. It took a bit of adjusting.โ
What a night. Itโs up there with the best in the clubsโs history. Well done Rovers .
Kenny has great potential.
Well done the hoopsโฆ.delighted for youโฆgreat for loi
I can see the Prague match will be amazing.