IBV 1 - 0 St. Patrick's Athletic

• Niall Farrell
• Thu, Jun 30 2011


IBV take the narrowest of leads to Richmond Park for the second leg of this tie next week. A lone Andri Olafsson goal from the penalty spot gave them the win at Hasteinsvollur this evening in what was a fairly even contest.

The first half passed largely without any major incident, as both sides attempted to get a feel for each other. Early on, Pats went close through Derek Doyle - the former Shels man heading just wide on four minutes.

Pats dominated play for large swathes of the opening half, but failed to convert that dominance into goals. Doyle, along with Ian Bermingham and Daryl Kavanagh, worked well for Pats down the wing but they were unable to break IBV down. After 25 minutes, Stephen Bradley tested IBV 'keeper Albert Saevarsson with a free-kick, but that was about as close as the Saints would get in the remainder of the first half.

IBV had a few chances of their own, winning six corners in the first half. Denis Sytnik went close four minutes before half time, shooting low after bursting into the Pats area, but Gary Rogers was able to get down to save.

After half time, IBV went on the attack straight away. Kelvin Mellor shot from long range a minute after the break, forcing Rogers to save. The Westman Islanders did get their goal after a lot of build-up on 50 minutes from a penalty.

Gary Rogers fouled Icelandic international striker Tryggvi Gudmundsson just to the right of his goal, leading Danish referee Michael Svendsen to award the penalty. Andri Olafsson stepped up and put the ball to Rogers left to put the home side 1-0 up.

Two minutes later Daryl Kavanagh shot just over, with Pats pushing for an equaliser. However Pete Mahon's side couldn't find an away goal to bring home. Danny North had a solid opportunity after muscling past two defenders before shooting over on 68 minutes.

With two minutes of standard time left, Kelvin Mellor had to clear the ball off the IBV line, but the Icelandic side were able to hold their lead and take a narrow lead to Inchicore. But The Saints will go into that second leg with optimism, knowing that they are more than capable of matching IBV.

IBV: Albert Saevarsson; Matt Garner, Finnur Olafsson, Eidur Sigurbjornsson, Rasmus Steenberg; Thorarinn Valdimarsson, Tony Mawejje, Kelvin Mellor, Andri Olafsson; Tryggvi Gudmundsson, Denis Sytnik.
Subs Not Used: Abel Dhaiiri, Anton Bjarnson, Yngvi Borgthorsson, Aynor Eyvar Olafsson, Brynjar Gudjonson, Bryan Hughes, Gudmundur Thorarinsson.

St Pats: Gary Rogers; Ian Bermingham, Evan McMillan, Derek Pender, Brian Shortall; Stephen Bradley, Paul Crowley, Derek Doyle, Dave Mulcahy; Daryl Kavanagh, Danny North.
Subs Not Used: Chris Bennion, Jake Carroll, Ian Daly, Shane McFaul, David McMillan, Anto Murphy, Sean Stewart.
Yellow Card: Daryl Kavanagh.

Referee: Michael Svendsen (Denmark)