Djurgardens 1
Shamrock Rovers 0
SHAMROCK ROVERS RESIGNED from the Europa Conference League with a third-straight defeat away from Tallaght, though their performance in Sweden was more spirited and enterprising than in either of the previous defeats away to Gent and Molde.
The decisive goal came after 18 minutes, for a brilliant Djurgardens side that had topped the group before this game kicked off. They did so with 16 points – only West Ham and Villarreal can match that haul across the whole competition – so it’s Rovers deep misfortune that they drew them as the group’s bottom seeds. The only points Djurgardens dropped in the campaign was on the opening night at Tallaght, where Rovers also picked up a point against Gent.
Rovers’ travel sickness is the issue most in need of addressing in Europe next year: where results and performances have been good at home, they combined neither in 3-0 losses away to Gent and Molde. Their performance was much-improved in Stockholm tonight, though again their start was notable for its passivity.
Djurgardens started with intent, with Roberto Lopes forced to scurry across the penalty area and brilliantly block the electric Joel Asoro in the very first minute. Asoro was influential again five minutes later, seeing another shot blocked in the Rovers’ penalty area.
The Swedish side took a deserved lead after 18 minutes, carving Rovers apart. The move was started and finished by captain and attacking midfielder Magnus Eriksson, who picked up the ball in too much space midway into the Rovers half. He spun the ball wide to Gustav Wikheim, who then waited for the overlapping left-back Elias Andersson. His cross skidded across the box to striker Karl Holmberg, who deftly laid the ball off to Eriksson, whose first-time shot from close range went underneath Rovers’ goalkeeper Leon Pohls, given a rare opportunity to start ahead of Alan Mannus.
For a moment Djurgardens threatened to run riot, with a harried Daniel Cleary booked for pulling back the electric Wikheim. Rovers’ early plight was pithily captured by the sight of Richie Towell clutching his knee after an accidental collision with Gary O’Neill. Towell, however, gingerly picked himself up and returned after treatment to Rovers’ best moment of the game. Neil Farrugia – playing the best football of his injury-hit Rovers career – skated in off the right flank and the ball bobbled through to Towell, whose snap-shot was batted away by the Djurgardens goalkeeper as the linesman flagged for what was a razor-thin offside call.
Rovers nudged their way slowly back into the game, and wasted a good chance to equalise in first-half stoppage time. Jack Byrne floated a typically excellent cross from the right wing that bounced across the box and missed everyone but Rory Gaffney at the back post. With the angle admittedly tight, Gaffney snatched at his shot and the ball skewed harmlessly into the side-netting.
Rovers started the second-half with more aggression, with Towell and Sean Hoare testing goalkeeper Jacob Zetterstrom from range. The threat at the other end didn’t exactly recede, mind: Cleary was replaced at half-time by Sean Gannon, but he too was left trailing in Wikheim’s wake when the attacker turned on the after-burners, with Lee Grace quashing the threat with a fine, splayed block of the subsequent shot.
Pohls, meanwhile, did brilliantly to block Emmanuel Banda’s shot when the substitute was sent galloping clear, one-on-one.
Farrugia was Rovers’ brightest player all night, and he came agonisingly close to latching onto a fabulous Byrne pass behind the Djurgardens’ defence in the closing minutes, stumbling at precisely the wrong moment. Lopes was closer still to equalising moments later, when a driven cross/shot from the left flank skipped just past him.
Lopes was more effective in preventing a second Djurgardens goal in stoppage time. Pohls came sprinting from his goal to mop up a through ball but succeeding only in giving the ball away to substitute Victor Edvardsen. With Pohls caught ahead of the ball, Lopes made a goal-saving interception in cutting out the attempted pass to Edvardsen in front of a gaping net.
Djurgardens: Jacob Zetterstrom; Piotr Johansson, Marcus Danielson (Jesper Lofgren, HT), Hjalmar Ekdal, Elias Andersson; Rasmus Schuller, Hampus Finndell, Magnus Eriksson (captain) (Emmanuel Banda, 66′); Joel Asoro (Haris Radetinac, 66′), Karl Holmberg (Victor Edvardsen, 79′) Gustav Wikheim (Albion Ademi, 79′)
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Daniel Cleary (Sean Gannon, HT), Roberto Lopes (captain), Lee Grace; Neil Farrugia; Gary O’Neill (Victor Serendiuk, 86′), Sean Hoare (Ronan Finn 86′) Richie Towell (Simon Power, 64′), Andy Lyons; Jack Byrne, Rory Gaffney (Aaron Greene 78′)
