Plenty of hard work ahead yet, says Fenn

CORK CITY are under no illusions as to the size of the task still in front of them in their UEFA Cup campaign.

Following a famous 1-1 draw against Djurgardens IF in Stockholm on Thursday night, in the first leg of the second qualifying round tie, the eircom League leaders were justifiably in high spirits as they landed back in Cork in the early hours of yesterday morning. A Neale Fenn goal in the eighth minute at the Rasunda Stadium had given them the invaluable cushion of an away goal to take back to Turners Cross for the second leg on August 25.

While at the other end committed and disciplined defended, allied to some heroic goalkeeping from Michael Devine, kept the Swedish title contenders at bay until a singular lapse at the back let in Patrick Amoah for an equaliser.

Yet Fenn understands there is plenty of hard work still to do to overcome a slick and technically gifted Djurgarden side.

“I enjoyed some of it but it was very hard work,” Fenn said. “They are a very good team and moved the ball around brilliantly. Their movement is frightening and we were happy with a draw.

“I would say this is the best team we have faced in Europe, better than Malmo, better than Nijmegen and better than even Nantes in my opinion.

“It will be difficult in the second leg, we’ll have to work hard on our play and put them under pressure a little bit more than we did and impose our game more because we’ll be the home team; try not to give anything away, score a goal and keep it tight.

“Obviously if we keep a clean sheet we’ll be through and we haven’t let many goals in this year. Even Djurgarden’s goal was disappointing but they always looked dangerous.”

Djurgarden coach Kjell Jonevret implied he will be sending out a side with a very different approach in Cork after being caught by surprise in Stockholm.

“Of course we hoped to win the home game,” Jonevret said. “We had too many touches of the ball and the audience weren’t too happy.

“I think we learned a lot from this game though and this group of players is a very good group to put things right. And 1-1 is much better than it looked after more than an hour.”