Swiss refs in Richmond tomorrow night they should be at a decent level compared to our clowns.
Not a whole lot in that latvian team, if Dundalk can snatch a one nil tonight will be great. Might be nice if Duffy could keep hold of the ball too..............
I can imagine Dundalk fans starting to get a bit worried at this stage, especially given how last year's tie went.
This one has 0-0 written all over it
Pardon my ignorance but would Dundalk be expected to progress in this tie?
The way the RTE commentary and pundit team are talking they should be winning this easily.
Decent game and not much in it.
They're the seeded team and the ones who've been in the group stages in fairness. So I think they should be slight favourites, but it was never a 4-0 aggregate kind of game.
Latvian sides have won 3 of the 5 European meetings between the countries, including the most recent one, 4-1 against Pats in 2015.
I know 0-0 means an away goal in Latvia would be big, but I think Dundalk need one here, even just to prove they can.
Riga staying very structured and keeping us at arms length. We are obviously nervous about the away goal. If its stays as it is I think the away leg will be more open. The early free header missed by Hoare is the example of chances that need to be taken. Benson has helped and with more gametime under his belt could start in Riga. A trademark late penalty will do nicely for us!!!
When Shields went down injured you could tell from the silence of the crowd how important he is for us!
I think ye have been better since Shields went off to be honest.
Concentration key in these last few minutes.
Excellent Ref in Oriel.
Broken record time but you'd think if Dundalk were serious about Europe they would install a grass pitch.
Poor enough game. I was surprised by Riga they clearly showed they are no mugs and that tie is very well balanced ahead of the second leg.
Ordinary enough from Dundalk. Really struggled to carve out chances.Benson made an immediate difference when he came on though, so hopefully he's more match fit for the away leg and starts. Overall though, Riga nullified Hoban to a large extent. Terrible miscommunication between Shields and Cleary. Hope he's alright. They have it all to do in Riga.
Jeez Dundalk great team and all that but the ground looks gank on TV, Come Louth Co Co, Dundalk owners and the FAI sort out
No any issues with the associated planning levies on the YDC have been resolved, that was part of the initial stand-off between Gerry Matthews and the Fastfix lads after the 2016 European moneypot was earned. Also that he built the YDC partly on his own land and partly on the Casey Trust held land has also been resolved between Des Casey and Dundalk FC and that GM sold the Hiney Park parcel of land to Dundalk Grammar School since - the YDC was taken in to the Casey Trust area. Des Casey's issue was the lack of courtesy by the former club owner who took some liberties with the positioning of the building and that the council granted permission for a building that straddled two owners land!?
Dundalk weren't clinical enough like they normally are in Europe and missing that bit of accuracy they've shown in previous years. I think they were trying too hard to score instead of making building up play there was a lot of rushing forward and hitting the pass or cross everytime that never bet the first man. They played some lovely controlled football in the middle but up front they were blunt and awkward.
Riga could have had a man sent off with all the late and off the ball stuff. They looked to be physically bullying them at times and were a bit quicker at times hopefully that's all they have and Dundalk can be confident of getting an away goal out there.
That Dundalk pitch is disgraceful and was one of the reasons a shot was skyed over for Dundalk.
Naw he didnt award us a penalty!
In general he was good, maybe could have booked their centre half earlier for the fould that stopped a decent break. Got a yellow soon after though for similar a similar indescretion. He let play go mostly with only the odd soft free awarded. I thought he got caught in the way a couple of times on the edge of the box after some quick passes from Gannon to McEleney arriving from deep but Im nit picking there!
No away goal was first target, we didnt play that well either but still had the better chances. I think we will play with a bit more freedom and it will be Riga that will be tentative in not conceding an away goal. It wont be a Larnaca repeat (??!!!) as 1st leg last season was their first competative game for starters, heat and injuries and their quickfire early goals had us reeling. That was a chastening experience so the lads will have learned from that.
Hoare's early chance is the stand out missed opportunity. Benson showed his importance but also Shelids will be a loss if it turns out that there is a fracture of the jaw/eye socket. Hoare was good at times when he moved in to midfield but he doesnt have the ability to consistantly pass accurately in that position. Shields and Benson in the same midfield is a different proposition for Riga to face. Hoban put in a shift but was never in with a shout of scoring and similar to his league type form. His link up play and work rate was ok.
For as bad Oriel is and controversy on the pitch, we've only lost twice in 10 games at 'home'. Levski we were never at the races with that side and were lucky to hang on in Lux. Hadjuk was a young inexperienced side that gave too much respect and then went and won away and could have won the tie. So playing at our own home has its merits. The strict conditions on seating and capacity does mute the atmosphere. The pitch isnt an advantage with so many clubs especially in Europe playing on artificial surfaces regularly. Is it a disadvantage to us though? We should be used to it especially when it rains heavily after being watered also. Players should have a change of boots ready if the surface is as wet as it was tonight. They shouldnt be losing footing and with Cleary at the end it could have been costly. Kelly when he came on also lost his footing a few times. I would expect the players to be prepared for a greasy grass pitch also!
Last edited by Nesta99; 10/07/2019 at 11:20 PM.
Why does he stuff keep flying up when they get the foot stuck in though? And the ball clearly bobbles. Thankfully yer players seem to be able to play enough to control it but it causes issues in attack.
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