BATE Head Coach
Aliaksandr Yermakovich did not amend his starting line-up that began
the game a week ago at Borisov-Arena. Stephen Kenny chose for the XI
players that started the game after half-time in the first leg.
The Yellow-Blues
looked more confident in the starting quarter of an hour creating
several good opportunities. Vital Radzivonau was the first to test
Gary Rogers nerves firing above the crossbar. Yury Kendysh was also
close after a set piece with a good header but missed the target. But
Alexey Rios probably had the best chance firing wide from outside the
box.
The flow of the
first half did not hint at any troubles for Belarusian chamipons.
Nevertheless, it came completely out of the blue when Dundalk
topscorer David McMillan headed the ball into the net with just
minutes to go in the second half.
The second half was
even more tragic for the Yellow-Blues. In spite of Alex Hleb brought
onto the pitch in half time, it were the home side who scored. It was
David McMillan again who turned out to be the luckiest in the box.
BATE were left with
a task of scoring at least once and sent Mikhail Hardzeichuk to save
the team. And forward Mikalai Sihnevich was the coacher's last hope.
The tall forward appeared on the pitch in 80th
minute. Unfortunately that did not help, and Benson struck late for
the home side win.
FC BATE will
continue their European campaign in UEFA Europa League.
Aliaksandr YERMAKOVICH (FC BATE Borisov Head
Coach):
- We are really
frustrated that we dropped a good chance to qualify for UEFA
Champions League play-off round. This is like a nightmare. I think I
am to blame for that and fully take the fault. We did not manage to
convince the team that the home win does not give any great advantage
and that we were to play in Dublin with great commitment and
concentration. The result showed we did not work properly in between
the games. I chose for the same starting lineup as in Borisov because
these players really did well a week ago. But now we did not keep
this standard and allowed the opponents too much. Maybe we should
have started with Alex Hleb. Anyway, it is late now to think about
that.
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