Boyle: We can hold our heads high

Dundalk’s stand-in captain Andy Boyle has insisted that the Lilywhites can hold their heads high despite surrendering their early second-half advantage to go down 2-1 to Zenit St. Petersburg.

The central defender confessed that his side were disappointed at full-time not to have taken at least a point from a game where they more than matched their more illustrious opponents.

Boyle said: “We’re disappointed not to get something from the game. To go 1-0 up and to create the better chances, limiting them to so few means that the equaliser probably kills us a bit.

“I think when you see the quality of their second goal it’s probably hard to defend against. We can hold our heads high though going into Sunday chasing three-in-a-row which is massive for us.”

Last night’s 2-1 reversal was the Louth side’s first loss in their premiere appearance at this stage of European football. They still remain in pole position to qualify from Group D with Boyle believing that progression is very attainable.

“I think we have proved over the first three games that we can more than match most in Europe. We’re playing football the right way and creating a high amount of chances. In the next three games, we will give it a right go, it’s enjoyable but we’re not just here to make up the numbers.

“We’ll go into Sunday with a chance to win three-in-a-row in front of our home crowd. The league is our priority and as long as we can wrap it up on Sunday we’ll be happy.”