Spring in City’s step for Valur clash

CORK CITY have warmed up in the nicest possible way for tonight’s Intertoto Cup game against Valur of Reykjavik with a dip in Iceland’s famous Blue Lagoon hot springs — a novel and luxurious outdoor experience which had the club’s players and staff in raptures.

“On every trip I like to do something to introduce the players to the indigenous qualities of the area we’re in,” explained manager Damien Richardson. “This was a terrific experience, really beautiful. We must have spent about 40 minutes in there, and the players all loved it.

“When I played I wouldn’t have gone near a hot bath two days before a game but I now realise from talking to the medical staff that this spring was perfect for relaxing the muscles and getting rid of all the lactic acid built up on the journey up here. So it was very beneficial but also hugely enjoyable.”

Yesterday, the team got down to more orthodox preparation with training sessions ahead of a game which is something of a journey into the unknown for Cork, even if the local weather, cool and cloudy, is all too similar to recent conditions at home. But with intelligence gleaned from an advance scouting mission by coach Dave Hill and his own previous experience of Icelandic football from his time as boss of Shelbourne, Richardson reckons he has a fair idea of what City will be up against this evening.

“I’m expecting technical opposition but with a good physical approach behind it,” he says. “But our spirit is good, everybody is ready and all I have to do now is select the team and explain the way we’re going to play. It won’t vary much from what we normally do. I’ll spend about 10% on the opposition and 90% on ourselves. But I know we’re good enough that, if we perform, we’ve a great chance.”

For Richardson, the key away from home is getting the balance right between caution and adventure.

“The away leg is sometimes your best opportunity in Europe and that’s proved to be the case with us in the past,” he says. “But while you’d love to get the away goal, there’s a very thin line in European football between being outgoing and being cautious. We’ve got to be able to switch between those two by keeping possession when we have the ball and, when we don’t have it, being a difficult, disciplined unit for them to have to try and play through. And if we can impose our tempo on the game I think it will be of great benefit to us.”

While Cork go into the match on the back of a 1-0 victory over Shelbourne in the FAI Cup, their opponents have just tasted their first defeat of the season. The new Icelandic campaign is seven games old, and Valur had clocked up three wins and three draws before they went down 2-1 to IA Akranes last Tuesday.

The setback leaves them seven points behind leaders FH Hafnarfjordur and in third position in a league which the club last won 20 years ago.

Owing to renovations which are ongoing at Valur’s cosy home ground — the 3,000 capacity Hlidarendi — this Intertoto clash will take place at the country’s national football stadium, the 15,000-capacity Laugardalsholl.

Needless to say, it will be far from full tonight, and the small travelling Rebel Army will need to be at their most vocal to help generate an atmosphere anywhere near hot enough to match those remarkable springs.

Kick-off is at 9pm Irish time.

* Meanwhile, reports from within Cork City FC suggest that striker Roy O’Donovan will sign for Hull City for £457,000 (€678,000) plus add-ons nest week. The deal was also reported by BBC Humberside last night.

It’s understood that the player underwent a medical at the club on Thursday before travelling to Iceland with his teammates.