St. Patrick's Athletic 1 - 0 Krylia Sovetov

With three goals in his first three games for his new club, all of which have come in Europe, Declan O’Brien must go down as the greatest loan signing of all time and tonight at Richmond Park his solitary effort was enough to see St.Patrick’s Athletic defeat Krylia Sovetov 1-0 at Richmond Park in the 1st leg of the third qualifying round of the 2009 Europa League.

Despite being without leading goal scorer Jan Koller, the Russian’s immense physicality was evident by virtue of their sheer stature from the off but one thing Irish clubs rarely lack is heart and even in the most trying of seasons the Saint’s have never backed down from a fight and it was they who went on the offensive as soon as the referee’s bell rang.

Midfielder Stuart Byrne broke well to get beyond lone front man Glenn Fitzpatrick and his measured effort had just too much power on it to threaten Eduardo Lobos in the away goal and drifted harmlessly over. To add to their brute force, Leonid Slutskiy’s men displayed some fantastic close control and off the ball movement and they quickly gained the upper in the encounter.

Then, for prolonged periods of the first half it seemed like it was defence against attack as shots reigned in on the Pat’s goal but, one after the next Jeff Kenna’s men put their bodies on the line to protect Gary Rogers in the home goal.

Full-back Silva Leilton had Inchicore heart’s in mouths as he bent a free-kick inches wide after seven minutes, then the tricky Vladislav Ignatev turned Jason Gavin on the edge of the Pat’s penalty box but his shot dipped too late to trouble Rogers shortly after.

Sovetov captain Ruslan Adzhindzhal was pulling the strings in midfield and at one stage threatened to beat Pat’s on his own as a mazy dribble saw him side step one tackle after the next but a fantastic last minute intervention from Gavin stopped the playmaker in his tracks, one of many saving moments from the former Middlesbrough man.

Despite Kenna opting to string five across the middle of the park, Sovetov were still finding space a plenty and when Damian Lynch caught Ignatev’s trailing leg inside the box referee Zsolt Szabo could have easily awarded a penalty but chose to wave away the Russian protests.

And so the teams went in scoreless at half-time, Kenna’s dream of keeping a clean sheet was 45 minutes away from becoming a reality. Bobby Ryan came on in place of the ineffective Fitzpatrick at half-time and Declan O’Brien moved up front to try his hand at keeping the Sovetov defenders busy, on his own.

However with Ryan’s introduction came the calmness Pat’s lacked in the opening half as he used possession better than anyone else in red had dared in the play that had gone before.

A header from Aleksandr Belozervo tested Rogers on 53 and the Hungarian referee then again ignored what appeared very warranted penalty appeals when Gavin looked to have tripped the pacey Timofey Kalachev before the forward could finish from close range two minutes later.

Then back came Pat’s however, as Ryan picked out Declan O’Brien with a brilliant through ball but despite the striker’s ability to shake of the attentions of Jiri Jarosik, he shot straight at Lobos on 57. From then on it was a breathless, end to end contest which both sides looked capable of winning.

Ryan himself was next to threaten but could only direct his effort wide of the Russian goal as Richmond Park began to believe a shock was on the cards.

Then on 65 the impossible happened, Ryan Guy picked up possession in midfield and got his head up early enough to see O’Brien steal a march on the static Sovetov defenders and Guy’s perfectly weighted pass was so well measured O’Brien was able to let it roll across his body and let fly first time from ten yards. A brilliant striker’s goal and into the same goal he scored his first for the club just a fortnight ago.

The Sovetov response was one of shock as they struggled to recapture the fluent football of the opening exchanges and despite plenty of pace in the wide positions they could not break down Pat’s staunch rearguard.

Substitute Vladislav Kulik came closest to equalising but Rogers’s incredible flying save turned the ball around his post, then Kalachev snook in behind Enda Stevens but blazed hopelessly over when he seemed certain to score.

In a rare Pat’s breakaway Guy’s searing pace took him clear of two Sovetov defenders but with Richmond Park on it’s feet he only succeeded in shooting just wide with a minute left on the clock. It relieved the bombardment on the Pat’s goal and Kenna’s men clung on for the most memorable of wins.

St. Patrick’s Ath: Gary Rogers; Jason Gavin, Jamie Harris (c), Dave Partridge, Enda Stevens; Ryan Guy, Stuart Byrne (Gary Dempsey 72), Damian Lynch, Garreth O’Connor; Glen Fitzpatrick (Bobby Ryan 46).
Subs not used: Brendan Clarke, Alan Cawley, Mark Leech, Stephen Maher, Noel Haverty.

Krylya Sovetov: Eduardo Lobos; Roman Shishkin, Aleksandr Belozerov, Jiri Jarosik, Leiton Silva; Timofei Kalachev, Oleg Ivanov (Vladislav Kulik 77), Ruslan Adzhindzhal (c) , Vladislav Ignatyev; Anton Bober, Yevgeni Savin.
Subs not used: Aleksandr Budakov, Ivan Taranov, Sergey Budylin, Yevgeni Pesegov, Sergey Shustikov, Roman Razdelkin

Referee: Zsolt Szabo (Hungary)

Attendance: 3,500

Man of the Match: Jason Gavin (St Pats Ath)