30/09/05
Battling City out, but not down
Cork City 1 Slavia Prague 2
S. Prague win 4-1 on aggregate)
CORK CITY’S European adventure came to a close in an incident-packed game at Turner’s Cross last night.
Slavia Prague registered back to back wins against the eircom League leaders.
The tie was effectively over by the half-hour mark, when Prague grabbed the away goal which meant that City had to score four times to turn the tie around.
But it could all have been so different if John O’Flynn’s touch hadn’t let him down after just six minutes. Neale Fenn, who was outstanding for Cork in the first half, picked out his strike partner with a beautifully flighted ball from the left. But with O’Flynn bearing down on goal, the ball bounced off his shin and ran harmlessly through to Kozacik in the Slavia goal.
A minute later, the visitors served notice of their threat on the counter-attack. Again, Fenn was responsible for the pass which seemed to see Liam Kearney impeded as he tried to make contact on the edge of the six yard area, but with Cork appealing for a penalty, Slavia broke down the right and only a linesman’s flag saved the home team as Pavel Fort drove the ball into the back of the net.
Then it was a case of déjà vu on 24 minutes. This time Fenn was flattened in the Slavia box but with an indulgent referee waving play-on, Slavia broke again, a clever backheel from Stanislav Vleck putting in Dusan Svento, who poked the ball home. But again, much to Cork’s relief, the linesman’s flag shot up.
Still, two disallowed goals illustrated that Slavia had not come to Turner’s Cross to defend, and so it hardly came as a shock when they broke Cork hearts by taking the lead in the 27th minute. Svento did well to cut in from the left and then laid off the perfect ball for Karel Pitak to quieten a crowd of 6,000 at the Cross with a cool, side-footed finish inside Michael Devine’s right-hand post.
And just past the half-hour mark, Slavia came close to making it two, but Liam Kearney on the line was well-placed to clear a near-post header from Fort after a corner on the right.
Yellow cards for George O’Callaghan and Pitak underlined the competitive nature of the game but, by the interval, it was clear to everyone in the ground that Cork were now playing mainly for pride.
Eight minutes after the re-start, Vleck showed his class with a terrific solo run from the half-way line but his shot from the edge of the area, though not powerfully hit, was flapped around the post by Devine.
As frustration set in for Cork, Greg O’Halloran picked up a yellow card for a late lunge and then, after a cynical bodycheck by Zaboncak, an incensed Roy O’Donovan retaliated by pushing the Slavia player. Both players received yellows, and from the resultant O’Callaghan free, Roy O’Donovan’s far post header was touched to the net by Fenn - only for the linesman’s flag to go up yet again.
Joe Gamble replaced Greg O’Halloran on the hour mark as, to their credit, Cork continued to rally the crowd with some fine attacking football and a fully committed performance.
But Slavia put the game completely beyond them with a second goal in the sixty-third minute, when Vleck broke through the middle and, after Devine had done well to block his first attempt, the striker was easily able to tap home the rebound.
But City refused to lie down and, deservedly, they gave the Cross something to cheer about a few minutes later when Fenn was held back in the box and George O’Callaghan stepped up to slot home the penalty.
As a hotly contested, rip-roaring game continued to swing from end to end, Dan Murray cleared off the line while Slavia’s Kozacik twice did well to deny O’Flynn from close-range. Tempers spilled over in the dying moments with a general melee in the Cork box but, more than a touch charitably, the referee let it pass and then, with more added time still to be played, wisely brought events to a swift conclusion.
CORK CITY: Devine, Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Murphy, O’Donovan, O’Halloran (Gamble 59), O’Callaghan, Kearney (Coughlan 77), Fenn (Bruton 68), O’Flynn.
SLAVIA PRAGUE: Kozacik, Krajcik, Latka, Suchy, Zboncak, Pitak, Jarolim, Hrdlicka (Cernock 90) Svento, Vleck (Kratochvil 90), Fort (Pesir 82).
Referee: P. Leuba (Switzerland)
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Originally Posted by pete
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