IN THE DYING seconds of Shamrock Rovers’ first leg with Mlada Boleslav last Thursday, Hoops supporters had all but given up hope of their passage through to the Europa League third round.
Having drawn the scores level in the second half via an outstanding Graham Burke strike 25 yards from goal, Stephen Bradley’s side found themselves 3-1 down and all but out with 90 minutes in Prague still to come.
But like he had done against Stjarnan in the previous round, and like he had done earlier in the half, Burke stood up to be counted and slammed a driving effort flying into the middle of the goal to bring the scoreline back to 3-2 in the game’s dying seconds.
Conceding three away goals is far from ideal, but the last minute goal could prove priceless if by the end of tonight Rovers, somehow, impossibly find themselves through.
Burke’s second goal in the 93rd minute may have initially seemed like a consolation on the surface, but it transforms the nature of the tie from all but over to giving Rovers a fighting chance – even if a slim one at odds of 11/1.
Like Cork City who went down 1-0 to AEK Larnaca at Turners Cross, Rovers will feel they did more than warrant a home defeat.
Like the league leaders they too will fancy their chances away from home in the second leg, if nothing else because they simply have nothing to lose.
The Hoops did enough last week to show they are not completely out of sight. However their capacity to go travel away from home, not concede and score at least two goals is a mighty task ahead of them.
After the opening leg Burke himself admitted that Rovers have absolutely nothing to lose going to Prague and playing attacking football later tonight. His manager, too, put an optimistic lens on the 3-2 defeat, but also highlighted areas where the game was won and lost.
“It was a game where we knew they would have possession because they are a good side. I thought we had chances, I thought we played well in patches but I felt we left ourselves too open when we attacked”, he said speaking to the club’s website.
“That transition was something we talked about and was disappointing, but the positives are that we scored two good goals and never stopped in terms of attacking and playing for each other.
“We knew when we were going to have the ball that they would be dangerous, that’s what was so disappointing. We had a spell where we had them penned in, but we knew that was when they were at their best – when we had the ball.
“I felt we could have hurt them a lot more if we believed in ourselves and attacked them. They are a good side in transition, but I thought when we got at them at the back they weren’t great. I just felt we needed to believe in it more and have a go.”
Rovers will need to have a go tonight if they stand any chance of progression to the third round for the first time since 2011 when they went all the way to the group stages.
They will take solace in the fact that all three goals they conceded came when the match dove into a spell of low activity and against the run of the play.
Burke made it 1-1 with a swashbuckling belter from outside the box. His goal has been viewed tens of thousands of times in the past week and it has been the playmaker’s magnitude of quality in front of goal which has dragged Rovers to this stage of the competition.
After a season of change and experimentation it seems now that Bradley has crystalised his strongest eleven. Carrying an attacking threat with the chemistry of Burke, Gary Shaw, Brandon Miele and Trevor Clarke in the final third they will undoubtedly create chances in Prague.
However their hopes of securing a result will depend on an ability to remain disciplined and solidified at the back and not concede an early goal versus a Boleslav side which has shown a deadly cutting edge – Australian striker Golgol Mebrahtu scored twice in Tallaght and will need to be monitored closely.
Were Boleslav to take the lead Rovers would require three goals without conceding another. While that feat may be beyond the Hoops, scoring two and keeping a clean sheet is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Rovers created 32 dangerous attacks to Boleslav’s 28 last week. They also had 14 attempts on goal to the Czech’s 11.
Even with odds stacked against them and the possibility of causing an upset unlikely, Rovers still have an outside chance and the quality in the final third to cause an upset.
Scoring his second of the night when the tie was done and dusted seven days ago, above all else Graham Burke has shown a quality which cannot be ignored and which could prove the difference between winning and losing tonight.
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