Gaffney with the goal to seal it; Hibs will be delighted with that.
You can only beat what's in front of you and Rovers deserve their margin of victory overall (red card aside) but I think the second half performance has been a little bit concerning in terms of upping the level for future rounds.
But positives outweigh that for now - a comfortable win, a dead second leg, and three chances at a group spot
It wouldn't be a LOI victory in Europe without some madness and nearly shooting themselves in the foot, but Rovers managed to get there in the end. Fair play.
Comfortable winners. Unless they implode that's one side throug for the coefficinet anyway.
Linfield may have been surprised to lose to TNS tonight (?), but the Welsh champions are no mugs.
Hibs might be quite happy with Irish refs in the end, or Danish ones added to the hit list. Gaffney very lucky and getting away with the card, Hibs hitting the woodwork and that one on one miss Rovers were a bit lucky too. Would have been a disaster to allow Hibs back in to the game considering how poor they were really and not what Rovers would have deserved. Usually LoI are on the wrong side of these things. The 3rd goal was crucial even if its just to have breathing room in the heat. European football can be about survival early on to adapt to the differences from the domestic game, pressures as a seeded side, so the more rounds ye get through and play in to better performances and ability to cope. Even just having more guile against experienced practitioners of the dark arts. The tie should be over but I doubt Rovers will call it tough there's some pressure off now nd a play-off round should be the worst case.
Last edited by Nesta99; 05/07/2022 at 8:36 PM.
Chuffed with that and hopefully have jack and Burke back for the bench next week and come on if needed.
Gaffney has been superb lately I think that's 3 if not 4 man of the matches in a row. Could have been 5 nil or 3 to 2 if our luck was out. Phew
Attendance was 7,019 (which included me). Most enjoyable evening.Originally Posted by sbgawa
Some random stats -
Strangely, if Rovers win out in Malta, it'd be the first time in six attempts that an LoI side has won both legs against a Maltese side in Europe.
Pat's are the only LoI side to win in Malta, having drawn the home leg. The six ties have involved six different LoI teams, but Hibernians have been the opponents four times and have won one leg 1-0 every time so far.
If they finish the tie now it’ll only be the second Champions league/European cup tie Rovers have won,was suprised by that stat….
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
would there be any prospect of Gaffney getting a ban? He's haunted with luck if he's got away with that and stayed on the field to get the goal
I've never seen such a dominant display from a LOI club in Europe as I did from Rovers in that first half, but it was a different story after the break when Hibs replaced a child who couldn't trap the ball with Jonah Lomu from 1995. Had it gone to 2-1 you'd never know what momentum might have done, particularly if Gaffney had walked.
I'd put a line through Gaffney for MOTM despite his performance in other respects. Thought McCann was excellent.
If he hadn't been booked I think he could have got a ban but the ref took action and saw it only as a booking. I'm assuming he saw it as I don't know what he booked him for otherwise
Not seeing a player regularly can have ye missing the progress a players is making. Gaffney gave Boyle a torrid time in Oriel. Last night he was mobile and pulling the defence about, used his physicality well. He seems to be more composed now and can pick the right ball to give, and in to space to receive. He has to be a key man for the remainder of the season with what he offers now and not just goals. The Hat stand may end up on the transfer list!
Hibs got their tactics wrong in the 1st half, their changes had them in with a shout of keeping the tie alive and should have started the game in the manner they did in spells of the 2nd half. Im not sure it was the most sensible thing for Gaffney to admit to catching the player, not meaning to connect with the kick. I thought cards could be reviewed of if there is mention of the kick in more detail in the refs an assessors reports that it could be flagged up, and he is on record, Hopefully the officials just dont see the need to bother.
Quite typical of Rovers in a way. Frequently vulnerable on the counter after dominating possession. Even on Friday Harps had a great chance at 0-0 having seen none of the ball until then. I think it's a weakness better teams can exploit. Let Rovers have the ball because we don't always have the penetration needed to make possession count, and hit at speed on the break. The longer we have the ball the higher our defensive line becomes and we give up chances. Dundalk did this well at Oriel in the last quarter of the game. Derry's winner early in the season (albeit from an error) exposed the high line late on. Bohs threatened this way in the first half recently.
Gaffney is almost unplayable at the moment. His legs are telescopic. How he retains the ball at times defies physics. He's reminds me of something of a cross between Peter Crouch and Christophe Dugarry. His mini-dummy to commit the keeper before rolling the ball into the net was glorious.
Been saying it for ages, Gaffney is the best player in the League this season, unplayable is the word. He was pretty good last year too.
No One Likes Us, We Don't Care
It will be a much tighter game next week and the heat will be a factor as still close to 30c at KO. They’ve played away games before when it is very warm and seem to cope fine. Cyprus and Albania are recent examples. I’d be very surprised if Rovers don’t score as well. Looking good for the next round.
They played in 30+ degrees in Luxembourg in 2015 as well - drew 0-0 out there and won 3-0 at home; fairly handy overall.
There's no need to exert themselves out there which is great, so 0-0 is quite possible.
That said, unless Hibs improve a bit, it's hard to see Rovers not creating chances.
This is true i cant see us not scoring at some stage (famous last words) but we really should be planning for the next round now.
Will be interesting to see if JAck and or Burke even make the bench next week.
Bizarre game last night, if I'm honest. I've seen a fair few Rovers games in Europe at this stage (all the way back to Honved and Lajos Detari in 1985) and can't recall a worse oppostion. Tueta last year were muck as well i suppose.
Rovers "glamour" players were absent and it was left to the hard-working, honest players to pick up the slack. Gaffney looks like a complete donkey at first but the ball sticks to him like glue(answers on a postcard). He had a super game, and managed to overcome that dreadful individual who deigned to hit his head against Rorys boot😉.
They brought on an extra from an avengers movie at half time, who proceeded to clatter the post, and then stomp around to no good effect.
Just bizarre.
Don't think it's tempting fate to be looking at flights to Razgrad in Bulgaria in a few weeks, and next weeks quick trip to sunny malta should be pleasant. The rigours of being a LOI fan eh.
Anyone know if the Derry game is available on line for tomorrow night?
It's on loitv
They definitely nearly shot themselves in the foot twice!! A couple of warning shots to be professional and seal the deal in the second leg.
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A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
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