Europa League Play-off Report: PAOK 4 - 0 Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers suffered a 4-0 first leg loss in their Europa League play-off against PAOK on Thursday. It was a tough night in Thessaloniki with the Hoops having to play most of the second half with ten men after Josh Honohan picked up two harsh yellow cards.

It makes next Thursday in Tallaght the most difficult of second legs but the Hoops know if they can’t create a miracle comeback they will play in the league stage of the Conference League starting in October.

In this match in north Greece, Rovers had ridden their luck up till injury time in the first half. Leon Pöhls had pulled off two super saves while a goal had been chalked off by a soft enough VAR decision.

However, in the fourth minute of the additional time of the first period, when the dangerous Andrija Zivkovic curled a cross in, Dan Cleary diving back towards his own goal scored an own goal with a diving header that took the ball into the top corner of Pöhls' net.

Stephen Bradley had left a multitude of attacking talent on the bench for Rovers’ first visit to the Toumba Stadium since a Europa League group game back in 2011. Jack Byrne, Danny Mandroiu, Marc McNulty, Darragh Burns and the all-time record goalscorer for Rovers in Europe Graham Burke were all in the dugout.

It was a case of setting up to try and contain the threat in Thessaloniki of a PAOK side who had reached the quarter-final of the Europa Conference League twice in the last three seasons.

There was a certain pressure on PAOK having been eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers by Malmo last week when they led deep in stoppage time only to concede a goal and then a second in extra-time to lose the tie 6-5 on aggregate.

There were no such mistakes on this occasion as they were ruthless in punishing the Hoops particularly in the second half.

The rain showers ahead of kick-off made for a slick playing surface but that suited both teams. While the Hoops had the minority of the ball, they looked to move it around quickly to beat the PAOK press when it came on.

Bradley had also left his skipper Pico Lopes on the bench. He had picked up a knock to the knee in last week’s 3-1 second leg win over Celje but was introduced after 27 minutes when Trevor Clarke, who has started all seven European games this season, could no longer run off the ankle injury he had picked up in the first five minutes of the match.

He had gone down clearing a ball after Sean Hoare and Cleary had combined well to block a shot from Giannis Konstantelias.

Pöhls was called into action twice in two minutes before the clock hit 10. First he did really well to readjust after Brandon Thomas’ goalward shot took a deflection off Hoare. The next save was even better as diving to his right he got a strong arm to take Tomasz Kedziora’s diving header away to safety.

Aaron Greene was running a lonely furrow upfront but Rovers looked to get players up to support him when they could. They created two chances of note in the opening 45. The first one came from Gary O’Neill but the Kerryman’s shot had the sting taken out of it by a deflection allowing Dominik Kotarski to save with ease.

The second one had Kotarski relieved that Hoare couldn’t get a clear header from a Dylan Watts corner. It came off Hoare’s shoulder, the ball drilling just over the bar in the 23rd minute.

It looked like the home side took the lead in the 41st minute. A sweeping Greek move was rounded off with Baba Rahman banging a powerful shot home for PAOK. However, in the build up Johnny Otto had clipped the heels of Gary O’Neill and the goal was ruled out but PAOK soon had the lead thanks to the last Cleary error.

Having conceded late on, the message at half time would have been to keep things tight early in the second half so it was disappointing from a Rovers perspective to concede inside two minutes of the restart and then to find themselves a man down.

Zivkovic played a pass that Taison Barcellos Freda ran onto and bursting through a couple of challenges he blasted a right foot shot by Pöhls.

It went from bad to worse in the 52nd minute for the Hoops when Honohan picked up a yellow card going up for a header with Stefan Schwab. Having been booked for taking too long to take a throw-in during the first half, Honohan couldn’t quite believe when another yellow and then the red was flashed his way.

It was damage limitation exercise from there on for the Tallaght based outfit but PAOK’s press forced Rovers into an error at the back for the third goal in the 67th minute.

Lopes’ clearance came off Cleary and Taison nipped in to feed Giannis Konstantelias and he was able to curl a right foot effort into the bottom corner of the net.

Bradley was able to bring on Byrne, McEneff and Mandroiu to give them some valuable game time with one eye on Sunday’s home league game against Galway.

There was drama late on as Lee Grace conceded an injury time penalty for a light push on Kiril Vasilev Despodov. Substitute Fedor Chalov took the spot kick but a trailing Pöhls boot kept it out with the forward missing the follow up by hitting the post.

However, when moments later Pöhls pushed out Chalov’s header, Baba Rahman was on hand to finish from close range to secure the 4-0 victory for PAOK.

PAOK: Dominik Kotarski; Jonny Otto (Joan Sastre Vanrell 79), Tomasz Kedziora, Konstantinos Koulierakis, Baba Rahman; Magomed Ozdoev, Stefan Schwab © (Mady Camara 79); Andrija Zivkovic (Kiril Vasilev Despodov 79), Giannis Konstantelias (Thomas Murg 79), Taison Barcellos Freda; Brandon Thomas Llamas (Fedor Chalov 64).
Subs not used:  Vieirinha, Tarik Tissoudali, Giannis Michailidis, Antonis Tsiftsis, Theocharis Tsingaras, Konstantinos Thymianis, Luís Soares Alves.
Booked: None.

Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pöhls; Seán Hoare, Daniel Cleary, Lee Grace ©; Trevor Clarke (Pico Lopes 27), Darragh Nugent (Aaron McEneff 73), Gary O'Neill, Dylan Watts (Jack Byrne 74), Joshua Honohan; Neil Farrugia (Graham Burke 84), Aaron Greene (Daniel Mandroiu 74).
Subs not used: Lee Steacy, Seán Kavanagh,  Cory O'Sullivan, Richard Towell, Darragh Burns, Conan Noonan, Marc McNulty. 
Booked: Joshua Honohan (33 and 52), Lee Grace 90+2, Dan Cleary 90+3.
Sent off: Joshua Honohan (52).

Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania) 
Attendance: 15,000 (estimate)
extratime.com Player of the Match: Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK)

Ex Drogheda United midfielder Killian Phillips joins St Mirren on loan https://t.co/f1rS6FNWYupic.twitter.com/m4ayIiZs5e

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) August 21, 2024