Cooke’s Drogs look for right recipe to stun Malmo

Drogheda United return to the European stage tonight for the first time since 2008 when they host Swedish giants Malmo in Tallaght Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm).

Then it was Paul Doolin’s league champions who saw off Levadia Tallinn before going down in the second qualifying round against Henrik Larsson’s Helsingborgs, but the days of full-time football are long gone and it would be a major surprise if Mick Cooke’s charges overcome the former European Cup finalists over two legs.

Drogheda earned their place in this competition by finishing second in last year’s Premier Division, but they currently lie uncomfortably close to the relegation zone. Yet their form away from the league has been more encouraging, having won seven of their 10 cup games to date.

Their victory against Cork in the EA Sports Cup on Monday provided a much- needed confidence boost and the Boynesiders have only one absentee, the unfortunate Eric Foley who is injured. Cooke believes Drogheda must tread carefully in the first leg to keep the tie alive, and the rumour last night was that he’d play his talismanic winger Gavin Brennan at left-back as part of a 4-4-2 formation, with Gary O’Neill and Peter Hynes leading the line.

Perhaps Cooke is playing mind games with his opposite number Rickard Norling, but he feels Malmo are themselves an unknown quantity, with their young squad comprising players with little or no experience of European club competitions.

And he expressed the hope that the Swedes’ confidence might have ebbed since losing the opportunity to go top of their domestic league last week.

“They have a lot of players as well who are playing in Europe for the first time and they are away from home in the first leg, so it’ll be interesting,” said the Drogheda boss.

“I think they are probably the surprise packet of the season over there, the same way as we were last year, so hopefully they might go into a bit of a slump now after that defeat at home and we can take advantage of it.

“They are a good side and knock the ball around very well and they’re not fourth in the league for nothing, but I feel we’ll be a match for them and certainly our fitness won’t let us down.

“We’ll be going for the win, but we’ll go for it in a cautious manner.”