Sport

Defiant display keeps St Patrick's hopes alive

UEFA CUP FIRST ROUND Hertha Berlin 2 St Patricks Athletic 0: SECOND-HALF goals from Maximilian Nicu and Cicero gave Hertha their…

PAUL BUTTNER in Berlin
Wed Sept 17 2008 - 01:00

UEFA CUP FIRST ROUND Hertha Berlin 2 St Patricks Athletic 0:SECOND-HALF goals from Maximilian Nicu and Cicero gave Hertha their expected advantage ahead of their trip to Dublin, but St Patrick's gallant display at the Olympiastadion has kept the tie alive.

St Patrick's Athletic manager John McDonnell said ahead of the return at the RDS in a fortnight: "We're playing a big club and a great team. But anything is possible and we have to keep going.

"They got a wonder strike for the first goal, but we didn't fade away. We kept the two up top and we tried to keep on playing football. I think there was a bit of a deflection for the second goal. As much of the play that they had, they got that little bit of luck.

"Overall, I'm delighted with our performance. I think we played really well. We're at a different level than this club and it was a fantastic performance overall by our players."

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With their conventional 4-4-2 line-up, St Patrick's looked comfortable early on, once they'd survived a penalty shout after just three minutes when Serb Marko Pantelic's hooked shot appeared to strike defender Jason Gavin on the arm. Thankfully for St Patrick's, referee Tomasz Mikulski waved away Hertha's appeals.

On-loan Liverpool striker Andrej Voronin was way off target with an ambitious, long-range shot, before Hertha unhinged St Patrick's offside trap for first of their only two chances of the first half on 12 minutes.

Pantelic worked a one-two with Lukasz Piszczek down the inside-left channel to get in a shot that Barry Ryan acrobatically pushed into the air. Captain Jamie Harris and then Gavin completed the clearance.

Keith Fahey created St Patrick's first opening on 19 minutes.

Gary Dempsey made the run, forcing an error from Brazilian Kaka, who tried to shepherd the ball out for a corner, though the weak shot from a very tight angle trickled into the sidenetting.

Decidedly quiet up until then, Voronin outfoxed the St Patrick's defence with a clever free-kick just before the half hour following a foul by Harris on Kaka, but Kacar's poorly struck shot was just past Ryan's right-hand post.

Far from overawed, St Patrick's were growing in confidence now and forced Hertha into some frantic defending on 36 minutes.

Fahey worked a one-two with Ryan Guy from a free-kick to put the ball to the back post with Kaka having to stretch to get his head to it to make a vital intervention with Gavin arriving behind him.

Hertha boss Lucien Favre made two changes at half-time, bringing on Nicu and Fabian Lustenberger, and they made an instant impact as Hertha took the lead on 49 minutes. Voronin's corner wreaked havoc in the box. Alan Kirby initially cleared off the line from Nicu with Ryan then punching clear Voronin's follow-up cross.

But the ball fell straight to Nicu who showed good composure to volley left-footed to the corner of the net from 16 yards.

Five minutes later Dempsey had to make a terrific tackle on the in-rushing Voronin.

But Hertha should have doubled their lead on 58 minutes. An incisive attack ended with Cicero setting up skipper Arne Freidrich but his sliced his finish wide.

St Patrick's survived to enjoy a good little spell in which Guy had claims for a penalty waved away and Quigley might have done better to cross as his shot from a tight angle was easily blocked.

Hertha countered well, though, and got their second on 75 minutes. Pantelic set up Voronin to shoot, but though Gavin got in a block, the ball ran through to Cicero who calmly fired past Ryan.

Favre also believes his side have a bit to do yet in Dublin if they are to get through to the group stages.

"I would have hoped we could have made it 3-0. I saw their game against Elfsborg and I knew what they were capable off. The tie is far from over and I think we will have a very difficult game in the second leg," he said.

HERTHA BERLIN:Drobny, Kaka, Friedrich, Cicero, Dardai (Lustenberger 46), Pantelic (Domovchiyski 83), Voronin, Stein, Simunic, Piszczek, Kacar (Nicu 46). Subs Not Used: Gang, Von Bergen, Chahed. Booked: Stein, Piszczek. Goals: Nicu 50, Cicero 77.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:Barry Ryan, Byrne, Lynch, Kirby (Bobby Ryan 63), Fahey, O'Neill (Glenn Fitzpatrick 83), Quigley, Harris, Dempsey (Bialek 90), Gavin, Guy. Subs Not Used: Friesz, O'Cearuill, O'Brien, Rogers.

Referee:Tomasz Mikulski (Poland).