Europa League Report: Dundalk 1 - 2 Zenit St. Petersburg

During their days in the First Division, Dundalk played their games on a Thursday night. Had the Lilywhites held on to their early second-half lead this evening at Tallaght Stadium it could well have seen a push to reinstate their former match-day to the domestic calendar.

Robbie Benson had joined Ciaran Kilduff on the Europa League goal scorers pedestal as a consequence of his 52^nd minute strike, a swerving left-footed effort, which deceived Zenit’s sprawling keeper Yuri Lodygin and into the net, sending Tallaght Stadium into delirium.

Zenit’s class was evident however, particularly after Benson’s opener and two quick-fire goals from the Russians, both of which caught the Lilywhites out defensively, ended the Irish side’s dream of going top of the group heading into the second phase of group matches.

Robert Mak scored the first at the end of a calamitous comedy of defensive errors, before a flowing team move resulted in Zenit’s second through Giuliano.

The visitors could not be begrudged the three points from Thursday evening’s encounter though and despite Dundalk’s battling, Zenit were just that bit better, especially in the final 30 minutes.

The fact that the Dundalk supporters left the ground disappointed in itself illustrates how far this team has grown. Progression from the group stages is still very attainable ahead of their visit to Russia in 14-days time. They still sit second, one-point clear of Maccabi Tel-Aviv with AZ a further three-points in arears.

It was supposedly an injury-hit Dundalk team which was to line-up for the Europa League anthem, although in actual fact skipper Stephen O’Donnell was the only absentee from what would be recognised as Stephen Kenny’s strongest line-up.

In O’Donnell’s absence, the Lilywhites resorted to the same midfield five as the one that lined up in the second-leg against Legia Warsaw in August with Robbie Benson, Patrick McEleney and Ronan Finn featuring.

The visitors were the competition’s top-scorers coming into the match having hit the net nine times in the space of 180 Europa League minutes.

Their 5-0 annihilation of AZ three weeks ago put the Russians top of the group, however, their coach Mircea Lucescu opted to leave the scorer of a brace on that night, Alexsandr Kokorin, on the bench for their match day three outing in South-Dublin.

The Russian international was replaced by Oleg Shatov, while the experienced Aleksandr Anyukov also deputised with Igor Smolinkov missing out through injury.

Dundalk’s European run this term has been based on getting on the front foot early-on. Indeed, that was how it played out in Tallaght this evening as the Lilywhites established a foothold early on. They could have been ahead on two occasions in the opening ten minutes.

Firstly, when Benson was set free only for Luis Neto to make a superbly timed challenge before Finn showed Belgian Nicolas Lombaerts a clean pair of heels and from a tight angle skimmed his low shot inches off target – it was agonising for the home support.

Both chances had seen David McMillan provide the incisive passes in behind the visitor’s shapeless back-four as the frontman dropped into the space vacated by Zenit captain Javi Garcia.

Zenit, as refined as they were in possession, created little as Chris Shields and Andy Boyle yet again put their bodies on the line for the Dundalk cause. The only action Gabriel Sava got in the first-half saw him spectacularly claim a floated cross from Domenico Criscito.

It was a case of chasing the ball for lengthy periods for Dundalk though as Axel Witsel and Giuliano showed their quality in possession, however, they lacked penetration despite pinning the Lilywhites well inside their own half. It was 0-0 at the interval.

Artem Dzyuba referred to Dundalk’s style of play as typically “British” in yesterday’s press conference. It was the Russian international though who seemed most accustomed to the ‘hustle and bustle’ as he held off three Dundalk opponents with ease before setting Oleg Shatov free inside the 18-yard area five minutes after half-time, however, Shatov’s cross-come-shot skewed off the bottom of the post.

Straight from the kick-out Dundalk took the lead. McMillan, who worked his socks off in the lone striking role, flicked acrobatically into the path of Benson who let fly from 25-yards. His shot didn’t appear to have much direction apart from the fact that it was on target until Lodygin mid-judged its flight. 1-0 Dundalk.

There was an immediate lift in Zenit’s intensity thereafter as they moved forward with more purpose. The impetus added by Kokorin, the Europa League’s leading marksman, was considerable as he began shooting on sight.

In saying that though, Dane Massey went excruciatingly close to extending Dundalk’s advantage as he saw his header from a Daryl Horgan free-kick rebound off the upright.

Zenit were stunned and their discipline began to wane with three St. Petersburg players going into the Czech referee’s notebook in the space of seven minutes.

In Witzel, Zenit have class in abundance though. The Belgian was in a league of his own tonight and was centrally involved in their 77^th minute winner, which saw himself and Giuliano play a succession of one-twos before Giuliano tapped home, in the process scoring his third goal of this season’s competition.

That was of course after Robert Mak had deflated the majority inside Tallaght Stadium with a very avoidable goal from Dundalk’s point-of-view. Sava’s miscued clearance saw the ball deflect off Chris Shields and into the path of Mak who finished to the far corner with aplomb.

The Lilywhites stopper did make up for his error moments later though following his excellent save from Mauricio’s 12-yard kick. On the back of that, Dundalk mounted repeated attacks, none of which yielded the equaliser.

Despite this the Lilywhites were raucously applauded off the pitch, and deservedly so.

Dundalk FC: Gabriel Sava; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Ronan Finn, Chris Shields (Dean Shiels 86); Patrick McEleney, Robbie Benson (John Mountney 79), Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (Ciaran Kilduff 71).

Subs not used: Gary Rogers (gk), Alan Keane, Paddy Barrett, Darren Meenan.

Booked: None.

Zenit: Yuri Lodygin; Aleksandr Anyukov, Luis Neto, Nicolas Lombaerts, Domenico Criscito; Javi Garcia (Mauricio 72), Axel Witsel; Robert Mak (Luka Djordjevic 78), Giuliano, Oleg Shatov (Aleksandr Kokorin 62); Artem Dzyuba.

Subs not used: Mikhail Kerzhakov (gk), Ivan Novoseltsev, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Artur Yusupov.

Booked: Oleg Shatov (29), Javi Garcia (37), Luis Neto (60), Aleksandr Anyukov (61), Domenico Criscito (67).

Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (CZE).

Attendance: 5,500 (est.).

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Axel Witsel (Zenit).

See photos from the game as taken by Michael P Ryan, Larry McQuillan and Eoin Smith here.