Djurgardens ‘much more confident now’

DJURGARDENS IF will not be caught napping again when they face Cork City tonight, says their French star Ibrahim Ba.

The Swedish league leaders were guilty of complacency in Stockholm a fortnight ago when the Leesiders took control of this UEFA Cup qualifying round tie through an early goal from Neale Fenn.

It needed a scrambled goal 10 minutes from time for Djurgardens to equalise but City still have the upper hand going into tonight’s second leg at Turners Cross.

Former AC Milan and France international forward Ba, 31, was part of a three-man second-half rescue party off the bench for the Swedes in the first leg and he said: “Cork showed they are a quality side against us. They are a really good team, compact, playing well and good with the ball. That gave us a problem because we weren’t expecting that.

“They scored an away goal so for them it’s easier. We have to try and score now and that’s a little bit more difficult. They will have their fans coming out to support them and it will be a tough game but we will be better prepared this time.”

Despite the urgency of their task, Djurgardens have taken a very relaxed approach to this second leg. Rather than charter a plane and fly direct to Cork, as City did to Stockholm, the Swedes flew into Dublin on Tuesday and undertook a five-hour bus journey, stopping off en route for lunch at the K Club.

They then spent yesterday morning sightseeing in Kinsale before returning to their hotel to sleep.

“It was a nice trip,” said coach Kjell Jonevret. “It’s not a problem for us, we’re used to long bus trips. We’re feeling absolutely great.”

Underlying the seemingly casual approach, coach Jonevret is supremely confident his players can progress. Two 3-1 league wins, home and away, since the first leg have returned them to the top of the Swedish league and Jonevret said: “We are much more confident now than before the first leg. We had played very well before then but hadn’t got too many points. The game (against Cork) was okay and now we’ve taken the points since so we’re feeling much better now.

“I hadn’t expected (Cork) to score that early. Many people expect an Irish team to be hardworking and they have that but they are also a very good football team. That wasn’t a big surprise but scoring so early was.

“So 1-1 was okay, the game is still alive.”