Bohemians boss Pete Mahon refuses to throw in the towel despite the Dublin club's 2-1 defeat by Swedish side Halmstad in last night's Champions League first-leg second round qualifier at Dalymount Park. Mahon urged: "This tie is certainly not over and I won't be surprised if we can score a goal or two when we travel to Sweden next week. There is very little between the sides and I was very pleased with my team's performance. We did have scoring chances and I thought we deserved at least a draw. There is still all to play for in this tie."
Mahon pointed out that Bohemians had upset the odds last year in their UEFA Cup games against Aberdeen and Kaiserslautern when winning away from home on both occasions. He continued: "There is no reason that we cannot come up with the same again. At this level you have to take your chances and sadly on the night we didn't manage to do that despite a great start with the opening goal from Glen Crowe. Halmstad are a difficult team to play against."
Bohs fly out to Copenhagen on Monday but first they have a President's Cup Final match against Shelbourne at Dalymount Park tonight, followed by Sunday's pre-season friendly against Wycombe Wanderers. Mahon added: "Those two matches give me an opportunity to give run-outs to those players who were not in the starting line-up.
After Crowe had headed Bohemians ahead on 24 minutes following a short corner taken by Paul Byrne, Simon Webb swept the ball across the face of goal for the ex-Wolves man to complete a clinical finish. He might have had a hat-trick but for the outstretched legs of goalkeeper Hakan Svensson which twice denied certain goals. The Swedes rode their luck and were level on 31 minutes when Tommy Jonsson fired home a penalty after goalkeeper Wayne Russell had taken down Stefan Selakovic.
It was that man Selakovic again on 55 minutes who hit home the winner, coolly lobbing the ball over central defender Avery John with Russell out of position. Winger Mark Rutherford came closest to equalising for the Dublin club late on. One low cross completely eluded the Swedish defence but there was no Bohemians player up to take advantage. And then the former Shrewsbury man burst through the middle, skipping past two tackles before shooting just wide from 18 yards.
Filed by Shane Murray
