Slovan Bratislava coach praises "brave" UCD

Slovan Bratislava coach Dušan Tittel was pleased to witness an improvement on his side's first-leg performance against UCD in Slovakia as they booked their place in the third qualifying round of the Europa League with a 5-1 win over the Students in Belfield.

However, despite the comprehensive nature of the scoreline, Tittel warned his players that there are still aspects of their play which need improve as they aim to reach the Europa League group stages for the third time, with the Slovaks set to face Russian outfit FC Krasnodar in the next round of qualification.

“I'm very happy and pleased, obviously with the result and also with the way we performed,” the 48 year old told media through an interpreter at his post-match press conference. “I expected that this match would be different than the first-leg in Bratislava.

“Unfortunately, we were not able to score within the first minutes, but anyway, at the end of the first-half we finally got the goal and I think overall it was a very good game for the spectators, very lively, [with] many chances from both sides. We were better in the final phase and we scored more goals.”

Once the visiting side took a two-goal lead thanks to efforts either side of half-time from striker Robert Vittek and skipper Marko Milinkovi?, Bratislava's progression seemed all but secured with UCD needing four goals to win the tie. However, Ryan Swan robbed a careless Martin Dobrotka 25 yards from goal and raced clear to pull one back in the 58th minute and this reinvigorated the Students.

“When we were 2-0 up, we made a bad, unnecessary mistake which led to the goal which UCD scored,” said an unimpressed Tittel. “After this moment, it was a really big boost for the home team, they started playing very well, they had a couple of chances and our goalkeeper Ján Mucha helped us with some fine saves.

“I have to say that the home team showed a very brave and good performance, they fought very well until the last minute and I think they, as well as my team, deserved the credit from the spectators after the game, it was a very nice moment.”

After securing a 1-0 win over UCD in the first-leg, the Sky Blues began their 2015/16 domestic season with a 2-1 away win over Zlaté Moravce at the weekend. With a 100% record from their first five competitive games – including a 9-0 aggregate win over Gilbraltar side Europa FC in the first qualifying round – Tittel is now hoping his side can keep this run going while acknowledging that their ball retention will need to be better against Krasnodar in their next European outing.

“The first game [against UCD] in Bratislava was totally changed after 25 minutes when we lost a player [Nicolas Gorosito] because of the red card,” said Tittel. “We were one man down in those difficult conditions with the high temperature, it was really tough to fight against a strong opponent who were defending very well. And especially, we didn't know UCD so well because it was the first match.

“Now in the second-leg we knew that they probably would have to go more forward and open the game, which suits us better. Yes, there were some phases today where I was really satisfied, we played good football, but [there were] also some phases where we lost the ball very easily and we will have to improve this to be successful in the next round.”

Two injury time finishes tallied with his opening goal of the game saw former FC Nürnberg, Lille and Trabzonspor striker Vittek go home with the match ball. Tittel was happy to see the experienced Slovakian international continue his recovery from a knee injury which saw the 33 year old miss a large chunk of the 2014/15 season.

“Robert Vittek scored a hat-trick which was very good, not only for him because he came here after a long injury but also for the whole team and the club, so I'm very happy for him,” said Tittel.