Shamrock Rovers 0 - 3 Rubin Kazan

• Simon O'Gorman
• Thu, Sep 15 2011


Shamrock Rovers went down 3-0 to Rubin Kazan in the Europa League at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night despite a battling performance that didn’t quite mask the difference in class between the two sides.

The watchword for Rovers coming into this game was concentration but it took just three minutes for a fatal flaw in that department to gift the Russians with an opening goal.

Karadeniz made ground down the left and rolled an innocuous looking ball back into the Rovers penalty area. With Conor McCormack lining up in front of the back four there should have been defensive cover aplenty but Obafemi Martins was allowed to meet the ball in space and his scuffed shot, while lacking pace, was accurate enough to find the right hand corner of Ryan Thompson’s goal.

Four minutes later there came another slip, this time from Dan Murray who played a careless pass to Karadeniz on the edge of the Rovers box. The Russian slipped a sideways pass to Nelson Valdez but his ball across goal was cleared at the back post by Pat Sullivan.

On nine minutes the home side survived another scare when a weak clearing header from Craig Sives went only as far as Martins. The former Newcastle striker took the ball down and skipped past one challenge before Valdez took over, swiping a rising shot inches over the crossbar when he should have hit the target.

It had been a torrid start for the Irish champions but, just as they did in the home tie with Partizan Belgrade, they slowly began to come out of their shells and play the kind of football that soon had the Russian’s taciturn manager, Kurban Berdyev, out of his dug out and gesticulating furiously at his players.

On 16 minutes Gary Twigg flicked a header on to Rohan Ricketts who, up to that point, had been an uncertain presence on the left wing. Ricketts went to the line and curled in a cross that was met by Stephen O’Donnell, but his header under pressure drifted over the Rubin crossbar.

But Ricketts had found his way and he, O’Donnell and Twigg were soon spinning triangular passes between them that threatened to open up Rubin’s back-line. Pat Sullivan, too, was coming into the game, showing aggressive confidence both defensively and in attack.

But with ten minutes to go until half time tragedy appeared to strike once more as Sives felled Martins who had skinned the Scottish defender and was driving towards the six yard box. Hungarian referee, Zsolt Szabo, didn’t have to think twice, it was as clear a penalty as you will ever see.

Paraguayan striker Valdez stepped up and drove his spot kick low to Thompson’s right but, incredibly, the Jamaican got down to save and also blocked Valdez’s follow up, before Murray smacked the ball clear.

Reprieved, Rovers began the second half brightly with Ricketts and Enda Stevens creating problems for Rubin down their right flank. But within minutes Rubin had extended their lead. A cross from the right by substitute Petr Bystrov was only half cleared by McCormack and Christian Noboa powered home a shot from 20 yards.

One minute later Rovers should have got one back when Twigg headed a ball onto towards Ronan Finn, lurking at the back post. But the ball dropped without pace and Finn’s header from eight yards was instinctively saved by Ryzhikov in the Rubin goal.

Michael O’Neill sent on Billy Dennehy and Ciaran Kilduff for midfielders Conor McCormack and Ronan Finn, switching to 4-4-2, but as Rovers sought to chase the game the Russians started to revel in the more open space. And on the hour mark they scored a third when Valdez set up Karadeniz and the Turk whipped a powerful shot into the top corner of Thompson’s net from the edge of the area.

Three minutes later Rovers had a penalty of their own when the Spaniard Cesar Navas tipped Gary Twigg over inside the box but, in keeping with an atmosphere that was beginning to sag, Stephen O’Donnell pounded his spot kick into the diving frame of Sergei Ryzhikov and the ball spun away to safety.

Rovers continued to press forward, aided by a Rubin side that now seemed more interested going forwards than they did in defence, and Kilduff almost found a way through in the 73rd minute only to be thwarted by a fine saving tackle from Kaleshin. Billy Dennehy might have done better than fluff a half chance on 77 minutes and, a minute later, Sives almost connected with a deep cross from Stevens.

With ten minutes to go Dennehy drove in a free kick from distance that Ryzhikov was forced to scramble away at the foot of his right hand post and while a series of balls came into the Rubin penalty area they were dealt with by the Russians, albeit scrappily. Kilduff might have had the final word three minutes from time when he latched onto Rice’s through ball and turned Navas inside the box. But he stumbled amid loud but mistaken appeals for a penalty and the chance rolled away.

When the final whistle came the crowd sang out and the flags in the east stand continued to wave, but Rovers had been taught a lesson in what this next stage of European competition demands.

Shamrock Rovers: Ryan Thompson; Pat Sullivan, Craig Sives, Dan Murray, Enda Stevens; Ronan Finn (Ciaran Kilduff, 55), Stephen Rice, Conor McCormack (Billy Dennehy, 55), Stephen O’Donnell, Rohan Ricketts (Chris Turner, 63); Gary Twigg.
Subs not used: Richard Brush, Jim Paterson, Gary McCabe, Karl Sheppard.

Bookings: Sives (35).

Rubin Kazan: Sergei Ryzhikov; Salvatore Bocchetti, Roman Sharanov, Cesar Navas, Vitali Kaleshin (Cristian Ansaldi, 74); Obafemi Martins (Petr Bystrov, 46), Christian Noboa, Bebras Natcho, Gokdeniz Karadeniz, Aleksandr Ryazantsev; Nelson Valdez (Vladimir Dyadyun, 63).
Subs not used: Giedrius Arlauskis, Alan Kasaev, Alexei Eremenko, Soloman Kverkvelia.

Bookings: Ryazantsev (18), Navas (63), Dyadyun (70), Sharanov (83).

Referee: Zsolt Szabo (Hungary).
Attendance: 6,920.
extratime.ie Man of the Match: Gokdeniz Karadeniz.