Kenna confident despite draw
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
A very flat Jeff Kenna appeared for the post-match analysis following his St. Patrick’s Athletic side’s one-all draw with Valetta FC in the 1st leg of their second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League tonight at Richmond Park.
Despondent he may have been but he was by no means defeated, stressing that his side have the ability to create chances in the return leg in Malta.
“I thought we were excellent in the first-half, played with a very good tempo, caused them problems, got the goal, I thought at half-time 'We keep this going, we’ll go on and we’ll score another one.' Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“Second-half we stood off them, don’t know whether we thought the job was done.” he speculated.
Regarding the Maltese team’s heavy handed-approach to certain incidents Kenna remarked: “There certainly was one or two tackles from their players which they got away with that should have been pulled up.”
Kenna then turned his attentions towards the away leg which takes place in a week’s time and was honest in his appraisal that the Maltese climate will cause his side problems: “They’ve got the away goal but I am confident we can go out there and score.....but obviously we’ll have to factor the heat in to the equation.”
Whether it’s the heat or Pat’s inability to kill tonight’s game off will be the bigger issue for Kenna come full-time next Thursday is debatable, but progression to the next round is definitely achievable once the Dubliners can maintain a decent level of performance throughout and not just in patches as they did on this evening.
Despondent he may have been but he was by no means defeated, stressing that his side have the ability to create chances in the return leg in Malta.
“I thought we were excellent in the first-half, played with a very good tempo, caused them problems, got the goal, I thought at half-time 'We keep this going, we’ll go on and we’ll score another one.' Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“Second-half we stood off them, don’t know whether we thought the job was done.” he speculated.
Regarding the Maltese team’s heavy handed-approach to certain incidents Kenna remarked: “There certainly was one or two tackles from their players which they got away with that should have been pulled up.”
Kenna then turned his attentions towards the away leg which takes place in a week’s time and was honest in his appraisal that the Maltese climate will cause his side problems: “They’ve got the away goal but I am confident we can go out there and score.....but obviously we’ll have to factor the heat in to the equation.”
Whether it’s the heat or Pat’s inability to kill tonight’s game off will be the bigger issue for Kenna come full-time next Thursday is debatable, but progression to the next round is definitely achievable once the Dubliners can maintain a decent level of performance throughout and not just in patches as they did on this evening.
About Eoin Manning
Eoin Manning has been a part of the extratime.ie reporting team since 2009 and covers the Dublin clubs. Eoin also writes for many of the countries national newspapers and can be contacted at eoinpmanning@gmail.com View Full Profile