Dundalk grab precious away goal as battling display keeps hopes alive

BATE Borisov 2 Dundalk 1: Dundalk gave themselves every chance of advancing to the third qualifying round of the Champions League after leaving the Borisov Arena last night with a priceless away goal despite going down to BATE Borisov.

While Stephen Kenny’s side will still go into Wednesday’s second leg as underdogs, David McMillan’s strike either side of first half goals from Aleksandr Karnitski and Evgeni Yabionski means the Louth men need just a 1-0 win at Oriel Park to claim the scalp of a side who have been in the group stages in five of the last seven seasons.

While that remains a tall ask for the champions, they can take confidence from an assured display in Belarus with only a couple of fantastic saves from Sergei Chernik denying them further goals.

The Lilywhites had been on top when BATE scored with their first attack on 11 minutes. Vitali Rodionov was afforded too much space and after slipping the ball through the legs of Andy Boyle, Karnitski was on hand to fire past Gary Rogers.

The visitors responded well to that setback and should have been level just seven minutes later. Richie Towell’s cross picked out McMillan whose header was wonderfully kept out by Chernik only for the striker to blaze his follow up over with the goal at his mercy.

Dundalk went close again on 20 minutes when Chernik turned a Dane Massey header around the post before they finally found the breakthrough on 32 minutes. Yabionski’s attempted clearance came off Daryl Horgan to inadvertently release McMillan in on goal and he made no mistake with a cool finish under Chernik.

If Dundalk had luck on their side with the equaliser, then they had absolutely none six minutes later. There appeared little danger when Yabionski picked the ball up at the edge of the area but his scuffed shot took a wicked deflection off Chris Shields to wrongfoot Rogers and creep into the net.

Again, Dundalk didn’t let the deficit faze them and could have been level on the stroke of half-time when Brian Gartland headed just over from a Horgan corner.

Towell then went close for the visitors on the restart after meeting a Massey cross but the second half was largely about soaking up pressure.

Rogers was forced to make a fine save to keep out Nemanja Milunovic’s header on 58 minutes but by and large that’s as good as it got for the Belarusians as Dundalk headed for home with a result that gives them every chance of emulating Shamrock Rovers’ feat of 2011 and advancing to the third qualifying stage.

BATE Borisov:

Chernik; Zhavnerchik, Dubra, Milunovic, Mladenovic; Yabionski; Gordeichuk (Rios 80), Karnitski, Baga (Nikolic 64), Stasevich; Rodionov.

Dundalk:

Rogers; Gannon, Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Mountney (Meenan 70), O’Donnell, Shields, Towell, Horgan (Byrne 88); McMillan (Finn 77).

Referee:

Vlado Glodjovic (Serbia).