Late Serge Atakayi goal seals famous Saints win in Bulgaria
SOFIA, SO GOOD: Saints' Serge Atakayi celebrates scoring the winner.
Serge Atakayi scored a big first goal for St Patrick’s Athletic as Tim Clancy’s side stunned CSKA Sofia to leave the Inchicore club on the cusp of making the play-off round of the Europa Conference League.
Having more than matched the fancied Bulgarian side for much of the game in the 28 degree heat of the Vasil Levski national stadium, St Pat’s struck on 87 minutes.
Midfielder Adam O’Reilly’s long ball looked to pose little danger. But lax defender Asan Donchev failed to get enough on his attempted back pass header.
Alert to the chance, in stole the recently signed Atakayi, on as a substitute minutes earlier. The Congo born Finnish national rounded home keeper Gustavo Busatto to tap into the net.
It was no more than St Pat’s deserved as they frustrated CSKA for long spells, restricting them to few openings while creating several scoring chances themselves.
It’s now all to play for ahead of the second leg at Tallaght Stadium next Thursday.
Despite three internationals in their side, CSKA struggled to impose their game on the visitors.
That was primarily down to Saints, unchanged from their win over NS Mura last week, starting confidently, carving the first real opening of the game on nine minutes.
Anto Breslin and Chris Forrester worked the ball to Billy King who shot disappointingly over the crossbar.
With CSKA looking somewhat flat, St Pat’s threatened again with Forrester’s sublime pass finding Barry Cotter who just couldn’t provide the delivery.
The frustration amongst the home fans mounted as Saints found space again down the same right flank, Forrester the instigator again to find the run of Doyle, though once more the ball into the box was poor.
It was 31 minutes before St Pat’s goalkeeper Joseph Anang made his first save of the night, parrying a drive from Brazilian Mauricio Garcez before smothering at the feet of Thibaut Vion.
As in the first half, St Pat’s began the second promisingly, Forrester annoyed with himself when he failed to make contact with a clever Breslin free kick into the near post six minutes in.
CSKA regained some of the dominance of the ball they enjoyed in the latter part of the first half, but continued to struggle to create openings as St Pat’s remained dangerous on the break.
Doyle stole in to rattle a shot off the crossbar on 64 minutes, even if he had strayed offside.
Even though they pressed in the latter stages, CSKA continued to labour in front of goal.
And it was St Pat’s who finished with a flourish.
King surged forward to rifle narrowly off target while Doyle also shot over when he might have found the target before Atakayi delivered his big moment.
: Busatto; Donchev, Petrov, Mattheij, de Nooijer; Vion (Lindseth, 60), Youga (Geferson, 76), Shopov; Garcez (Alvarez, 83), Nazon (Bamba, 60), Tufegdzic (Yomov, h-t).
Anang; Brockbank (Curtis, 74), Grivosti, Redmond, Breslin; O’Reilly, Lennon; Cotter, Forrester, King (Atakayi, 81); E. Doyle (Coughlan, 90+4)
: Manuel Schuettengruber (Austria)
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
