Early goal sealed our fate, says Richardson

DAMIEN RICHARDSON felt after last night’s comprehensive defeat at the hands of Red Star Belgrade that there had been two key moments over the course of the two legs which had decided the tie.

He reckons the first was Denis Behan’s unfortunate own goal in the match in Cork and the second was Red Star’s killer goal tonight after just three minutes of the game.

“We felt coming here that we had to keep them at bay for a decent period if we were to have any chance.

“When they scored after two and a half minuets, the tie was effectively over”, the Cork City manager said.

He added that he felt his team had played with skill and professionalism on the night but were simply beaten by a better side.

“The very fact that we were missing three or four of our best players was very telling in the end. In those circumstances we could not match Red Star tonight. I would love to play them with the full side but unfortunately that will not happen now.

“The early goal was the biggest contributing factor in their victory and it gave both the team and the vociferous home fans a huge boost. It was they needed most and what we needed least.”

Richardson said that he had been warned to expect a hostile reaction from the Red Star fans but he said he had been very impressed by them, contrary to expectations.

“Maybe it would have been different if we had kept them at bay a little longer and the crowd might have reacted differently.

“But that was the way it went and on the night we can have no complaints about the result.”