Plucky Pat’s give Mahon proudest night

PETE MAHON last night hailed his side’s battling performance in their narrow defeat to Shakter Karagandy in Kazakhstan as the highlight of his long career.

“It would have to be,” said the veteran manager shortly after the final whistle in the Europa League second round qualifier.

“When I think of all the obstacles put in our way, the hassle with visas, the travelling here within the country, people messing us around, it was a great night. I’m so proud of the players. We’re a part-time club playing at this level having gone through what we’ve gone through. We’ll have a few lemonades tonight.”

It was a heroic achievement for Pat’s who, having travelled for 19 hours to get to the country and then endured a further three-and-a-half-hour bus trip to reach the stadium, came from one down to equalise through a header from substitute David McMillan in the 79th minute.

Nikola Vasiljevic grabbed his second of the night for the home side with just four minutes to go in a game played in humid conditions in front of a passionate crowd of 12,000.

“It was a great result but it could have even been a bit better,” said Mahon. “We were up against a very good team, technically very sound Russian-type players; strong, tall, quick, with excellent mobility. It was a great result and though we don’t know yet how crucial the away goal will be, it’s great to have it. And we could have had a second — Evan McMillan hit the post in the end and Paul Crowley had a shot taken off the line.

“When you add it all up, it was a great result. I was afraid the players might tire given the trip we had to get there but in fairness to them and the staff, the players actually got stronger as the game went on.

“It will still take a monumental effort on our part to go through. The players have dug deep so many times this year, but if we can get a good crowd into Richmond next Thursday, which I’m sure we will, we’ll have a chance.”

SHAKHTYOR KARAGANDA: Mokin,Kirov,Vicius,Vasiljevic,Utabayev, Kukeyev,Bayzhanov (Dosmanbetov 88), Finonchenko (Petronijevic 79),Dzidic,Konysbayev (Borovskiy 90), Khizhnichenko.

ST PATRICK’S: Rogers,Pender,Bermingham,Evan McMillan,McFaul, Kavanagh,Bradley (Guthrie 89),Doyle,Shortall,Crowley (Daly 74), Murphy (David McMillan 63).

Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia).