STEPHEN BRADLEY WAS left to rue Shamrock Rovers’ “naive” concession of a third goal in the final act of tonight’s Champions League second qualifying round defeat away to Ludogorets.
Rovers survived a torrid first-half to trail 2-0 at the break and improved immeasurably in the second half, kindling hope for next week’s return leg that was then extinguished by the concession of a third goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
There was wretched luck in the goal but Rovers were its architects. Lee Grace gave away cheap possession on the left flank in trying to play the ball to Andy Lyons, and from there Alan Mannus saved from Spas Delev, but then saw Igor Thiago’s shot pinball off Sean Hoare and then Roberto Lopes on its way into the net.
“I thought first half we were poor and they were very good”, said Bradley. “The second half we were good with one or two good chances and we were playing some good football. But the third goal we have given away is really, really poor from our point of view and really naive. It makes it an almost impossible challenge.
“Second half was a big improvement and we knew we had the second leg to come in Tallaght and it’s 2-0. You take that and say okay, and make a right game of it in Tallaght. But it was naivety – we play when we’re not supposed to play and invite them on to press us and we get punished.
“They were very good but we weren’t good enough, we knew second half we performed a lot better. And there were so many positives from the second half to take into next week. So when you give away a goal in the last 40 seconds like we did, we play out when we’re not set to play is really, really naive from a really experienced group of players. And the players know in the dressing room that shouldn’t happen.
“We don’t do that at home to a team in the Leinster Senior Cup, never mind to Ludogorets in the Champions League. It’s really really poor from us.”
Bradley did praise his side’s second-half performance, but all was undercut by that late, late goal.
“We knew first half wasn’t us. Our decisions were slow, our passing was slow, we were inviting them to press. We didn’t penetrate enough, our angles were poor, we were just off the game in every aspect. We showed them a bit too much respect and second half we were better in all of those departments. The performance showed that and we were unlucky not to score: Sean Hoare from the corner. We score that it’s 2-1 to take back to Tallaght and it’s a totally different tie. But at this level it’s small margins and we shot ourselves in the foot at the end.”
Rovers will face Ludogorets in the return leg at Tallaght next Tuesday, and defeat will see them drop to the qualifying round of the Europa League, where they will face the losers of the clash between Dinamo Zagreb and Shkupi.