Czech side Slovan Liberec beat Shamrock Rovers 2-0 in their Intertoto Cup second round tie, leaving The Hoops with hopes they can pull off an upset in the return leg. Liam Buckley's side were under pressure from the start and in the third minute Czech international striker Michal Pospisil threatened but Richie Byrne got his body between man and ball to allay the danger.
Rovers found themselves a goal down after 11 minutes when Vaclav Kolousek, who returned to Liberec from Italian Serie B side Salernitana in January, struck an inviting corner in which was met by the head of central defender Tomas Zapotocny who diverted the ball past Hoops keeper Barry Ryan. Slovan then had a goal disallowed but did double their lead on 21 minutes.
Good build up play from Tomas Janu and Petr Lukas freed up midfielder David Langer and his effort took an unfortunate deflection off the retreating Stephen Grant to spin past Ryan’s outstretched arm. Striker Trevor Molloy was introduced at the break and he forced a corner from which Tony Grant shot straight at the keeper.
Midfielder Kolousek then went close twice for Slovan but Ryan was alert to the danger. Towards the end Molloy forced a save from Slovan's keeper before an 88th minute strike from Kolousek stung Rovers’ left upright.
"In fairness, Liberec moved the ball well tonight and showed some very good link play,” said Buckley after the game, “I have said it all week that they are a top European side and at times we were fortunate not to have conceded more goals."
Buckley believes the best they could have hoped for away from home was a scoreless draw.
“As I explained to the lads afterwards this is only half time for us at the moment,” Buckley continued, “On a tighter pitch in Dublin and with an early goal we can then have a go at them to see if we are capable of turning it around. So far it has been a learning experience for the squad but it’s not over quite yet. We now know what they are capable of." The Hoops will now hope that the home crowd advantage at Richmond Park in the second leg will be enough to overturn the deficit.
Filed by Neil Callanan
