Dundalk 1-2 Zenit St Petersburg
Dundalk’s hopes of moving to the top of Group D in the Europa League were dashed as Zenit St Petersburg came from a goal down to leave Tallaght Stadium with a 2-1 victory.
With 71 minutes played, it looked like Dundalk would pull off the biggest result in the club’s history.
Ahead through Robbie Benson’s third European goal of the season, Stephen Kenny’s side were good value for their lead but a costly error by goalkeeper Gabriel Sava a minute later allowed the Russian giants back into the game before Brazilian Giuliano broke Dundalk hearts with 13 minutes to go.
The sides went in scoreless at the end of an entertaining first half, where Dundalk looked a threat in the final third and defensively sound at the other end.
Robbie Benson offered a glimpse of what was to come inside the first five minutes when he broke between the lines to put Zenit on the back foot, but he was closed down just as he made his way towards the penalty area.
Ronan Finn almost brought the house down two minutes later. David McMillan offered him an invitation with a clever pass into the right channel and Finn accepted, making up a couple of yards on Belgian international Nicolas Lombaerts to power through, but his shot agonisingly crept the wrong side of Yun Lodygin’s right-hand post.
That was followed a minute later by a barnstorming run out of his own half by Daryl Horgan, but ex-Manchester City player Javi Garcia intercepted his pass, with McEleney tearing through the middle with intent.
Mircea Lucescu’s side gradually exerted control on possession, spraying it around stylishly but Dundalk remained tactically disciplined and the half finished with Sava relatively underemployed.
There was a real let off for Dundalk in the 51st minute when Oleg Shatov broke on the right to roll an effort just wide of Sava’s far post.
The attempt came after a rare breakdown in communication between Horgan and Dane Massey.
A minute later, Dundalk were in front. Ronan Finn hustled Lombaerts and when David McMillan’s attempted pass deflected off the Zenit defender, it fell kindly for Benson, whose swerving effort somehow beat Lodygin.
Zenit bounced back and continued to exploit the right flank and a Shatov ball across goal looked like it was going to be tapped in by Dzyuba, but he went down under pressure from Gartland. No penalty was the verdict from the Czech referee.
Anyukov became the fourth Zenit player to enter the official’s notebook for a cynical foul on the excellent McMillan in the 62nd minute.
From Horgan’s subsequent free-kick, Massey’s header thumped back off the post. It proved to be decisive at the end of things.
Zenit introduced Akeksandr Kokorin, just as Shatov seemed to be coming to the boil, and the substitute hammered an effort goalwards in the 65th minute that pinballed off the studs of a few Dundalk players, only to go wide of the target.
The Lilywhites looked comfortable but they were the architects of their own downfall five minutes later.
Kenny will be furious at the manner in which his team conceded.
There didn’t look to be any danger when Chris Shields played the ball back to Sava, but he ballooned his clearance and a quick interchange of passes between Giuliano and Criscito ended with Robert Mak ruthlessly side-footing the ball past the goalkeeper.
If Zenit’s first goal was the result of good fortune, their second, in the 77th minute, was the result of some great football.
Witsel was the conductor, playing a flurry of short passes in the build up before injecting some pace as he approached the 18-yard line. His one-two with Giuliano took Brian Gartland out of play and the Belgian’s return ball was fired home by the Brazilian.
Ciaran Kilduff replaced the tireless McMillan before play restarted and he almost rescued Dundalk again in the 89th minute when he rose to meet Horgan’s ball but he just couldn’t get sufficient power in his header.
Zenit had a chance to put the result beyond doubt in the final minute when Gartland was adjudged to have blocked Mauricio as he thundered into the Dundalk penalty area but Sava saved the substitute’s spot-kick.
Dundalk threw men forward in stoppage time but they just couldn’t pull it out of the fire as Zenit held on to maintain their 100% start to Group D.
Dundalk FC: Gabriel Sava; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Chris Shields (Dean Shiels 86), Ronan Finn; Patrick McEleney, Robbie Benson (John Mountney 79), Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (Ciaran Kilduff 71).
Zenit St Petersburg: Yuri Lodygin; Aleksandr Anyukov, Luis Neto, Nicolas Lombaerts, Domenico Criscito; Robert Mak (Luka Djordjevic 78), Javi Garcia (Mauricio 71), Axel Witsel, Oleg Shatov (Aleksandr Kokorin 61); Artem Dzyuba, Giuliano.
Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (Czech Republic).
