SOCCER - Drogheda Utd 1 Dynamo Kiev 2:THEIR EFFORTS over the course of an entertaining game at Dalymount Park last night earned Drogheda United a standing ovation from fans who also made clear their sense of grievance that the Norwegian referee has not given a penalty for what they had reckoned was a clearcut handball late in the first half.

In the end, though, Drogheda's best was not quite good enough against an accomplished Kiev side who with two terribly soft goals are in a commanding position to wrap up a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League next Wednesday.

"It was a great effort," said United skipper Stuart Byrne afterwards, "but if you look at the goals, they were rubbish, we really should have been able to stop them both. In certain areas we were a match for them and hopefully the performance will have changed the minds of a few people watching but that's the way it is against really good sides, they test your concentration to the limit and it often ends up being the little mistakes that prove decisive."

United started brightly and there were a couple of spells early on where they did enough to make the visiting defence look uncomfortable. They moved the ball about well and closed down opponents at a rate that seemed to unsettle the Ukrainians, most notably when Ollie Cahill robbed Oleksandr Alkiyev 40 yards out and then skipped towards the edge of the area before unleashing a low angled shot that Olkeksandr Shovkovskyy did well to push past the post with his finger tips.

A couple of half chances followed with Eamon Zayed, Fahrudin Kuduzovic and Richie Baker posing a threat. The visitors, though, looked more effective going forward. Ismael Bangoura played alone up front but Artem Milevskyy covered a lot of ground behind him to lend support to the Guinea international.

Milevskyy should have had his side one up within six minutes but the 23-year-old badly misdirected his close-range attempt to turn home Andrii Nesmachnyy's low cross. The let-off seemed to serve as a wake-up call to the United back four although Shaun Maher must have prompted a few expletives on the Drogheda bench when his under-hit backpass forced Ewings to race out to gather.

The Scot did well over the first 20 minutes or so, looking confident as he faced a couple of shots from distance - one of which he saved with a foot after only catching sight of the ball late on - and composed at set-pieces. Aliyev took pretty all of those for the visitors and his end product was a decidedly mixed bag.

His low inswinging free from the right on 24 minutes didn't look one of his better efforts but Ewings foolishly threw himself at it and achieved nothing more than to push the ball towards the feet of central defender Taras Mykhalyk who calmly took a touch before sidefooting home.

It was a cruel blow for Drogheda but they reacted with considerable character, first steadying the ship and then striking an impressive balance between the pursuit of the goal they required to keep the tie alive and a heightened state of vigilance at the back.

They got their equaliser two minutes into the second half when Kuduzovic's cross was turned goalwards by the head of Adam Hughes and Shovkoyskyy could only push the ball onto the underside of the crossbar after which he tried in vain to prevent the rebound slipping over the line.

What followed was a wonderfully open and entertaining conclusion to the game with United resisting the pressure they were put under by the Ukrainians and more than once looking as though they just might nick a winner. Instead, after Ognjen Vukojevic had hit the foot of the post from 20 metres they conceded four minutes from time with Akliyev beating Ewings at the near post with a powerfully struck low shot.

In the dying seconds Ewings saved well with his feet for the fourth time but the Ukrainians left happy in the knowledge they are still safely on course for the group stages.

DROGHEDA UNITED:Ewings; Byrne, Maher, Gartland, Kendrick; Baker (O'Brien, 89 mins), Hughes, Keegan (Shelley, 71 mins), Cahill; Kuduzovic (Barrett, 62 mins); Zayed.

DYNAMO KIEV:Shovkovskyy; Betao, Diakhate, Mykhalyk, Nesmachnyy; Vukojevic; Ghioane (Shatskikh, 80 mins), Milevskyy (El Kaddouri, 88 mins), Akliyev, Ninkovic; Bangoura (Kravets, 61 mins).

Referee:S Moen (Norway).