Europa League: Rosenborg -v- Sligo Rovers

ROSENBORG BK

This Thursday sees a travelling contingent of Sligo Rovers fans and players heading for Norway, ready to descend on the Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim for a massively important second round clash in the Europa League (kick-off is at 6 pm, Irish time).

No doubt, Rosenborg are the clear favourites for the win, but it's unlikely they'll have everything their own way.

Coming into the match on the back of a 6-0 aggregate win over Latvian side, FK Jelgava, their confidence will certainly be sky-high, and with home advantage for the first leg, they'll be focused on pressing hard to have something to bring with them to the Showgrounds for the return fixture.

Looking at their two first-round matches, it's clear who their biggest goal-scoring threat is at this moment in time; Mike Jensen.

Scoring in both games, he'll be one to watch, no doubt. But, speaking to the club's official website during the week he was quick to underline the importance of maintaining a defensive maturity as well as pointing out just how good he thinks their defence really is.

“We have such a good defence that I do not think they will get many chances against us at Lerkendal.”

And when you look at the talent of former Blackburn Rovers star Morten Gamst Pedersen in the middle of the park for Per Joar Hansen's side, it becomes clear just how well-endowed the Norwegian side are in comparison with the Bit O' Red – especially when you consider he grabbed an assist in each of their last two European matches.

But it's been four years since they last won their domestic league title, and St. Johnstone knocked them out of Europe last season – perhaps they'll meet the same fate against Sligo.

SLIGO ROVERS

It's been a few days of firsts for John Coleman of late. Leading the club to their first-ever Europa League win as they hammered Lithuanian club FK Banga 4-0 in the second leg, he soon witnessed his side fall to their first defeat since his appointment a mere three days later, losing 1-0 to UCD in Belfield.

All in all, it's been a mixed few days for the Sligo supremo, but he's more than ready for the challenge of getting a good result out of Thursday's encounter; his pre-match press conference intimated as much.

"In my experience of managing, every team I've taken to a higher team or ranked higher, we've always performed better and risen to the occasion. I'm expecting this to be no different. We came home from FK Banga desperately disappointed that we didn't come away with an away goal and I'll feel the same tomorrow if we don't get one."

And it's this fighting talk that's precisely the kind of attitude that has caused many League of Ireland teams to perform so admirably when the chips are down.

After all, they've been doing so already this term, with all teams unbeaten so far in Europe with five victories and just two draws.

Speaking about the difference between the clash with FK Banga and Rosenborg, he said: "It will be very different to FK Banga. I don't think there is a learning curve from the Banga game. One, the standard of the opposition will be different and two the atmosphere will be different. But we are prepared, we have done our homework and we know quite a bit about Rosenborg, as I'm sure they know quite a bit about us.”

Referee: Michael Tykgaard (DEN).

MATCH STATS

Back in 2012, Rosenborg reached the group stages of Europe's secondary elite club competition, winning just two games, both of which were against Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna.

Sligo took a squad of 18 players with them when they departed for Norway during the week.

Westport's Ruairi Keating, who joined the club from their U19 side, was included in the squad due to a high number of injuries to other players. He turned 19 on Wednesday.

Both teams are right in the middle of their domestic seasons, with Sligo having played 19 league matches so far, just four more than Rosenborg's 15.

BETTING

Rosenborg 1/3; Draw 4/1; Sligo 7/1

PREDICTION

This one will end in a hard-fought draw with both teams giving their all for 90 minutes. A final score-line of 1-1.

Rosenborg

Injuries: N/A

Doubtful: N/A

Suspensions: N/A

Sligo Rovers

Injuries: Aaron Greene, Raffaele Cretaro, Jeff Henderson and Joseph Ndo.

Doubtful: None

Suspensions: None