Bohemians secured a high profile tie with Norwegian side Rosenborg tonight when they beat Bate Borisov 3-0 in Dalymount Park.
Bohs started the brighter and had a good chance around 20 minutes when Damien Lynch got on the end of a great ball in and found the Bate defence asleep. He missed the chance but it was ruled offside anyway. The chance seemed to spur Bohs on and five minutes later Glenn Crowe got a half chance which he struck just in front of the goal.
On 36 minutes a Damien Lynch throw found Bobby Ryan who ran it to the endline and crossed dangerously in front of the Bate goal. It found Steven Caffrey in the box who poked it home to put Bohs one-nil up and bring them right back into the tie.
They continued to press and right right on the stroke of half time Crowe found Doyle who crossed into the box for Bobby Ryan to give the eircom league champions a 2-0 lead.
In the second half Bate began to get more adventurous. Realising that a goal was enough for them, they began to throw caution to the wind while Bohs continued to push for a third goal that would put the tie beyond question.
On the 58th minute a fine one-two between Glenn Crowe and Mark Rutherford resulted in a Crowe right foot volley finding the back of the net.
Bate looked a beaten side once Crowe's goal had been scored and it would have taken a major slip up by Bohs to bring the Belarussian side back into the game but the Irish side continued to press with Doyle, Rutherford and Crowe all going close before the final whistle blew.
Bohs will now face Norwegian side Rosenborg with the first leg to be played in Dalymount Park next Wednesday.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
