Seán Gannon says Dundalk will be facing a different BATE Borisov to the one that narrowly edged past them last season but is hopeful of continuing their European momentum.
Twelve months after bowing out 2-1 on aggregate to the same opposition in the second round qualifiers, the Lilywhites yet again face the Belarusian club, with the third round qualifier first leg taking place tonight at the Borisov Arena (7pm Irish time).
The size of the task cannot be underestimated as BATE claimed five points in a Champions League group that contained Barcelona, Roma and Bayer Leverkusen after knocking out the SSE Airtricity club.
Stephen Kenny’s side overcame FH Hafnarfjordur on away goals in the last round and the versatile Gannon agrees with team-mate Ronan Finn that familiarity with the opposition is a bonus.
“It does help because we are not going into the unknown,” he told RTÉ Sport. “They have brought in a few different players and lost a few players, but we know what to expect.
“We have played in the stadium before so that will definitely help us.
“We won’t be wasting time trying to feel each other out.”
BATE, similar to Dundalk, lead the way in their domestic league, currently eight points clear of Shakhtyor after 15 games and are by some margin the most potent attacking team in the league.
Former Shamrock Rovers manager Pat Fenlon believes that the Lilywhites can score in Borisov, as they did in the 2-1 away defeat last season, while 25-year-old Gannon says the win over FH will give the squad confidence that they can cause another European upset.
“I think it’s going to be a totally different game to the one we played last week,” said the player who also played under Kenny at Shamrock Rovers as well as Dundalk.
“Every game in Europe is different and we’ll have to approach this game with a new game plan...because we played in Europe already, it’s good to have a scalp under our belt and great to go through a round, but I think this game will be totally different.”
