Sparta Prague class shines through as spirited Shamrock Rovers fall short
FALL SHORT: Rovers Danny Mandroiu dejected after his side concedes a fourth goal. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
A spirited Shamrock Rovers fell to a 4-1 defeat to a classy Sparta Prague side, who proved just a step up in class on the night.
First half goals from Czech Internationals Lukas Sadilek and Martin Seviksy put the home side in control, with Asger Sorensen nodding in a third. Danny Mandroiu hit a stunning consolation before Lukas Haraslin notched the fourth.
The home side, with some insider knowledge of the Irish set up through Kerry native Diarmuid O’Carroll in his role of assistant manager of the Czech giants, went close early on when Norwegian midfielder, on-loan from Ajax, fashioned a yard of space at the edge of the area but got too much power on his curled effort that left Ed McGinty untroubled.
Whilst the double chasing visitors were going to war with the old enemy the hosts preparation was a little more straightforward, as three first half goals away at Banik secured the points, allowing boss Brian Priske to use his bench earlier than probably expected going into tonight’s clash.
As the hosts began to find their groove, the decision for Stephen Bradley to opt for a more conservative looking side than the one picked on Friday, as Dylan Watts, Graham Burke and Danny Mandroiu dropped out looked the sensible choice as they reduced the home side to shots from distance and dealt with set-pieces relatively comfortable early on.
But just before the half hour mark, and with frustration growing around Epet Arena, skipper Pico Lopes was called into action to throw his body on the line to deny powerful striker Jan Kuchta who looked to spin and volley from close range.
All the visitors' hard work was undone moments later when Sparta punished some sloppy Rovers rearguard to get in front. Following some neat build up play, the attack looked to be under control but Lopes swung and missed his clearance, with the ball bouncing just left of the goal.
Albion Rrahmani then kept the ball alive, sliding in to drill it across goal with the unfortunate Matt Healy seeing his last ditch clearance come off Sadilek and who was about to tap home.
Disaster then struck on half time when the home side finally made one of their set pieces pay. McGinty did well to save Sevinsky’s downward header but parried the ball straight to Suchomel who made no mistake.
Four minutes into the second half another well worked set piece resulted in skipper Sorensen powering home a header to put the game beyond Shamrock Rovers.
The rarely seen quadruple substitution followed from Rovers who looked tried desperately to take the shine off the scoreline and worked with less than 10-minutes to go when Danny Mandroiu hit a wonder strike , swiveling on the edge of the box and smashed home a volley into the bottom corner to give the near 1000 travelling support something to cheer.
But in added on time Haraslin put the icing on the cake with a well worked fourth on the counter attack.
: P Vindahl; A Sevinsky, A Sorensen (E Uchenna, 59’), J Zeleny; P Kaderabek (P Vydra, 75’), L Sadilek, S Mannsverk (S Enema, 75’), M Suchomel; V Birmancevic (L Haraslin, 68’), A Rrahmani (G Kuol, 59’), J Kuchta
J Surovcik, P-A Rodriguez, K Kairinen, J Mercado, M Rynes, F Panak, K-P Milla
: E McGinty; D Cleary, R Lopes, C O’Sullivan; D Grant, A McEneff (G Burke, 60’), M Healy (C Malley, 76’), D Nugent (D Watts, 60’), J Honohan; J McGovern (D Mandroiu, 60’), R Gaffney (M Noonan, 60’)
: L Steacy, A Noonan, A Matthews, G O’Neill, T Clarke, C Barrett
: Atilla Karaoglan TUR
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