- Andrew Dempsey
- Fri, Aug 02 2024
Zack Elbouzedi scored his first goal for St Pat’s on Thursday night - and it was a crucial one as the Saints reached the third qualifying round of the Conference League.
Winger Elbouzedi joined the Saints last month and has already made an impact at Richmond Park.
But his goalscoring display on Thursday was his biggest contribution yet for Stephen Kenny’s men after completing a switch from Swedish giants AIK.
The Athletic drew 2-2 in their second leg against Liechtenstein side Vaduz on Thursday but advanced 5-3 on aggregate after winning the first leg 3-1.
Fabrizio Cavegn opened the scoring for Vaduz in the 22nd minute but the Saints equalised six minutes later through Elbouzedi.
Vaduz retook the lead on the night in the 76th minute via Cavegn again but the tie was wrapped up before they could put pressure on Kenny’s troops when Romal Palmer levelled.
“It was important to get through,” Elbouzedi told St Patrick’s Athletic’s media team.
“I’m buzzing to score my first goal and it was an important one too. It was good timing. When you come away from home, you have to show resilience.
“It wasn't pretty and we went behind twice. A lot of teams might roll over and give up. But we didn’t give up and we kept going. I think we deserved it over the two ties.
“These are the moments you want as a footballer. A lot of supporters travelled and they paid hard earned money to support us.
“It’s good that we can reward them and long may it continue and hopefully we can get through as many rounds as possible.”
St Pat’s will face Azerbaijan side Sabah in the next qualifying round, with the first-leg set to take place in Dublin next week. Dates and time are to be confirmed.
FC Vaduz:Leon Schaffran; Mischa Beeli (Jenthe Mertens 72), Denis Simani, Liridon Berisha, Nicolas Hasler (Mats Hammerich 78); Lorik Emini (Mischa Eberhard 78), Sandro Wieser, Fabrizio Cavegn, Danilo Del Toro, Dominik Schwizer; Javier Navarro (Jonathan De Donno 67).
Subs not used:Benjamin Buchel, Simeon Weber, Fabian Stöber, Yves Oehri, Simon Luchinger.
Booked:Denis Simani (36), Fabrizio Cavegn (77).
St Patrick's Athletic:Joseph Anang; Axel Sjöberg, Joseph Redmond, Tom Grivosti, Anthony Breslin; Jamie Lennon, Romal Palmer (Jason McClelland 85), Christopher Forrester (Aaron Bolger 50), Zack Elbouzedi (Kian Leavy 63), Mason Melia (Cian Kavanagh 85), Jake Mulraney (Al Amin Kazeem 63);
Subs not used:Daniel Rogers, Shaun Hall, Luke Turner, Ryan McLaughlin, Conor Keeley, Brandon Kavanagh, Alex Nolan.
Booked:Joseph Anang (70), Aaron Bolger (71).
Referee:Ashot Ghaltakhchyan (Armenia).
Attendance:1,405.
