- Dave Donnelly
- Thu, Jul 21 2016
A first-half goal from Gleb Rassadkin saw a tough Dinamo Minsk side through to a 2-1 aggregate win over St Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park.
Liam Buckley's side came into the game with a marginal advantage, having drawn 1-1 in the first leg in Minsk, but they came up against technically and physically superior opposition who did just enough to get through over two legs.
St Pats began the game in a lively manner, with Christy Fagan and Conan Byrne involved in early attacks that threatened to catch the visitor’s cold.
And they capitalised on a moment of inattentiveness when Fagan found Bermingham down the left with a quick free kick, and Aleksandr Sverchinski did well to get up and beat Byrne in the air and avert the danger,
If the Saints started confidently in attack, they looked shaky in defence and, after Byrne had already given away a free kick in dangerous territory, a mistake by Sean Hoare released 21-year-old striker Gleb Rassadkin.
The Dinamo youth product hesitated slightly before going down under the challenge of the retreating Ger O'Brien, but referee Alan Mario Sant was suitably unimpressed.
The Maltese has experience of both Richmond Park and Pats, having taken control of the Saints' Premier Division game with Limerick here last season as part of an exchange program between the respective associations.
He adopted a laissez-faire approach to the physical side of the game, which normally would stand to Irish clubs in Europe, but went against them on this occasion, particularly when Sverchinski appeared to go in two-footed on Byrne, but amazingly a throw-in was the outcome.
The visitors were beginning to look dangerous themselves, however, and there was something inevitable when a third chance in three minutes saw Rassadkin open the scoring after 18 minutes.
Brendan Clarke was forced to save a long-range strike from Oleksandr Noyok and a header from Sverchinski, before Vladimir Korytko flicked on a corner to find the striker unmarked, though his finish was more difficult than it looked.
Billy Dennehy drove over from distance before centre half Noyok, who seemed determined to shoot at any opportunity, shot from all of 45 yards and sent Clarke scrambling to claw the ball away from his top corner.
A mistake from Bermingham let in Libyan international Mohammed El Monir in on goal, and only a wonderful covering tackle from Darren Dennehy prevented a certain goal, before Graham Kelly drove just wide from outside the box.
On the stroke of half time, Clarke was called again into action to deny the lively El Monir. His close-range volley looked destined for the bottom corner, only for Clarke to make a wonderful, and vital, block.
Pats were forced to take more risks in the second half and Mark Timlin, who had been quiet in an unfamiliar role behind the striker, was pushed up alongside Fagan, and the ex-Derry man's cross was well cut out with Billy Dennehy lurking at the back post.
Dinamo produced the game's one moment of brilliance when Ostraukh and substitute Luka Rotkovic linked up and the striker found El Monir unmarked, but the Libyan couldn't quite get there to finish a fine move.
Liam Buckley's side poured forward in the closing minutes as Dinamo retreated surprisingly deep having dominated possession for much of the game, and it became heated when Fagan challenged for the ball after Ignatovich spilled a Jamie McGrath shot.
The goalkeeper won the race to the ball and bore the brunt of Fagan's attempted side-foot on his forearm, and his reaction sparked a melee in which all Dinamo subs and 20 on-field players were involved.
Fagan and Sverchinski were booked as a result, while Dinamo substitute Vladimir Khvaschinski was sent off for his part in the fracas, though referee Sant had long since lost all semblance of authority.
The nervous Belarussians huffed and puffed and just about held firm and, despite a penalty appeal deep into stoppage time, the Saints didn't quite have the quality to force a goal and extra time and saw their European dreams vanish for another year.
St Patrick's Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Ger O'Brien, Darren Dennehy, Sean Hoare, Ian Bermingham; Graham Kelly (David Cawley 69), Keith Treacy, Conan Byrne (Dinny Corcoran 90), Mark Timlin (Jamie McGrath 62), Billy Dennehy; Christy Fagan.
Subs not used: Conor O'Malley (gk), Lee Desmond, Michael Barker, David Cawley, Jamie McGrath, Dinny Corcoran, Sam Verdon.
Booked: Keith Treacy (66), Christy Fagan (82), Bill Dennehy (90+4)
Dinamo Minsk: Sergei Ignatovich; Yuriy Habovda, Aleksandr Sverchinski, Oleksandyr Noyok, Yury Astraukh; Nikita Kaplenko, Vladimir Korytko, Atrsem Bkov, Valeri Zhukovski (Anton Shramchenko 79), Mohammed El Monir (Kirill Premudrov); Gleb Rassadkin.
Subs not used: Maksim Plotnikov (gk), Maksim Shvetsov, Vladimir Khvaschinski, Yegor Zubovic.
Booked: Mohammed El Monir (43), Yury Ostraukh (61), Valeri Zhukovski (67), Aleksandr Sverchinski (82).
Referee: Alan Mario Sant (Malta).
Attendance: 2,800 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Keith Treacy (St Patrick's Athletic).
