'We gave away four terrible goals': Shamrock Rovers have work to do to keep Euro dreams alive
Graham Burke of Shamrock Rovers reacts at the final whistle after the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off first leg defeat to Flora Tallinn. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
When the riches on offer are so big, the concession of cheap goals makes a missed opportunity all more acute.
Shamrock Rovers will need to bridge a two-goal gap in next Thursday’s Europa Conference League second leg at Tallaght to reach the group stages and spike their prize money to €3m.
Scoring twice at Flora Tallinn last night was a commendable feat but was made redundant by the errors that gifted the Estonian champions an advantage they hardly had to work hard for.
Flora sped into a two-goal lead within the first half hour at the A Le Coq Arena through Sergei Matvei and Martin Miller before Graham Burke pulled one back on the stroke of half-time.
Rauno Sappinen made it 3-1 with 14 minutes left and, although a looping header from Liam Scales again reduced the arrears, Miller punished further slack defending with a fourth for the Estonians two minutes from the end.
"We gave away four terrible goals and, when you do that at this level, you don't deserve to win," said Hoops manager Stephen Bradley afterwards, who insisted his midfield weren’t overrun.
"I haven't seen our team make those errors previously. Flora still had to capitalise and, to be fair, they did. We're disappointed."
The only consolation Bradley’s side can take is their recent history of overcoming a first leg deficit.
They succeeded in cancelling out Slovan Bratislava’s two-goal lead last month at home, however replicating it will only matter if they avoid conceding near the finish to bow out.
That elimination from the Champions League still left them with this new Uefa competition as a fallback and their ambitions of reaching the group stage were boosted by being on the favourable side of the draw reserved for domestic title winners.
Without Lee Grace, Stephen Bradley opted to draft Sean Hoare into defence, with Burke replacing Dan Mandriou in the other change from the side that overcame KF Tueta in the third round.
Rovers were caught out after just 14 minutes when Joey O’Brien’s attempted pass down to Ronan Finn the right was cut out. There to pounce was captain Konstantin Vassiljev and the 36-year-old national skipper rolled a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Matvei to first-time stroke the ball into the bottom corner.
Burke fired over from 25 yards as the visitors tried to settle but they were exposed again on 28 minutes on the counter.
Sappinen charged clear, luring O’Brien into a mistimed tackle before squaring for the inrushing Miller to smash the ball past a helpless Alan Mannus.
It was clinical stuff by Flora but, as they’ve done throughout their European journey, opportunities were coughed up at their end.
Dylan Watts fired straight at Matvei Igonen when sent clear into the box but Burke was more accurate on 44 minutes, curling his shot through a crowded penalty area into the net after Flora failed to clear a corner.
It seemed Rovers were in the ascendancy but counted themselves fortunate to escape two clearcut openings after the break.
Miller drew a brilliant one-handed save from Mannus and Sappinen was more culpable for blazing over from close range.
O’Brien glanced a header wide and Mandriou clipped the outside of the post as the game became stretched but Rovers were undone again when Mannus parried a shot straight into the path of Sappinen to tuck in a deserved goal.
The frenetic pattern continued when Scales guided his header inside the far post from Burke’s deep cross on 84 minutes but, straight from the restart, Hoare didn’t cover himself in glory.
In his haste to challenge Sappinen, he allowed the Estonian international to nip past him on the right and cross for Miller to restore the two-goal cushion.
It was a replica of the second goal; the same players combining to profit from defensive sloppiness. The lapse could prove the difference by full-time in Tallaght.
“When we scored to make it 3-2, you are telling the players to be nice and calm, to be relaxed,” added a frustrated Bradley. “There were four minutes left, it's 3-2, and you’d take that result into the second leg.
“But is one of four individual mistakes. We had Flora into a good press, where we want them and then Sean jumps out to allow their player to turn him.
“I actually thought Sean Hoare gave one of the best performances you would see from an Irish player in Europe but he’s made a mistake. I haven't seen us defend like that in a long, long time.
“You’d accept getting beaten by being outplayed and cut open but that wasn’t the case. It’s just not good enough.” Despite his annoyance, the Rovers boss is confident the tie isn’t over.
“We're definitely well capable of winning the tie,” he affirmed. “There were a lot of positives, once we settled.”
M Igonen; K Kallaste, M Seppik, H Purg, M Lilander; M Miller, M Soomets, K Vassiljiev; H Ojamaa, S Zenjov, R Sappinen.
A Mannus; J O’Brien, R Lopes, S Hoare; R Finn, D Watts, G O’Neill, R Towell (D Mandriou 68), L Scales; G Burke, R Gaffney (A Greene 53).
Yevhenii Aranovskiy (UKR).
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