Richardson gained from Prague pain

IF Cork City succeed in putting Slavia Prague out of the UEFA Cup, they might in part have the Slavia Prague of yesteryear to thank for it.

The Czech side hammered Cork 6-0 on aggregate in the same competition in 1994. The City manager then, as now, was Damien Richardson, and he says the painful experience radically altered his approach to the game.

“They were a terrific side and they destroyed us,” he remembers. “I changed all my thoughts on football after that. I changed all my training methods and went back to working simply with the ball.”

Cork might have faced Everton in the first round proper but Richardson is happier to face the challenge of the team from the Czech capital.

“There was no way we were ever going to get handy draw,” he said. “But I’m happy we’ve got Slavia because I see them as a natural progression from the Lithuanian and Swedish teams we’ve beaten in the previous rounds. Slavia will play a similar system and pattern, only much better again. I’d much rather have that than a game against Everton which would have been much more of a physical game. I think a technical game will suit us better.”

Slavia Prague are in the UEFA Cup after elimination in their final Champions’ League qualifier by Anderlecht. The Czech side drew 0-0 in Brussels but then went down 2-0 at home - a game which had a strange postscript when players’ valuables were stolen from the visitors’ dressing room.

Three games into the new Czech season, Slavia are mid-table after one win, one draw and one defeat.

Manager Karel Jardim didn’t disguise his pleasure at drawing Cork.

“We will not underestimate them and we have to respect a team which eliminated strong Swedish opposition,” he said. “But of all the possible opponents I think this draw is the most favourable to us.”

Richardson will send Dave Hill to spy on the Czech side before the first leg in Prague on September 15, with the return leg in Cork on September 29.

Meantime, City now are preparing for an FAI Cup clash with Finn Harps on Monday. And it looks like they will be without centre-half Alan Bennett who was forced out of the Djurgardens game with a hamstring problem.

“It’s back to the reality of domestic football,” says Richardson. “Thursday’s game was great and the draw was exciting but we’re back training so we can get our concentration right for the game against Harps.”