Dundalk midfielder Daryl Horgan insists that his side’s Europa League adventure is not over yet and that they can claim a win in their final group game in Tel-Aviv.
A 1-0 defeat for the League of Ireland Champions to AZ Alkmaar on Thursday means that Dundalk’s fate is no longer in their own hands.
Going into the final round of games, Dundalk must hope that they can beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv for a second time and that group winners Zenit St Petersburg have the edge over Alkmaar in the evening's other game.
Zenit have already qualified for the knock-out stage as group winners and have yet to drop a point in the group.
Horgan believes that Dundalk can fulfil their part of the equation and told 2fm's Game On: "If we can play like we can play, I’d be confident we can get a result out there.
"We played very well against them at home and I think we can get a result.
"Alkmaar have a very difficult game against Zenit. If we beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv, we’ve done all we can do in the last game and it means that AZ have to beat Zenit, who haven’t dropped a point yet.
"If we can just pick up those three points, we’re in a very good position."
Dundalk never really got going against Alkmaar and were unable to recover from a poor start when they conceded in the ninth minute.
It was Dundalk’s first game since the disappointment of defeat in the FAI Cup final to Cork nearly three weeks ago and Horgan believes that the long break may have played a role in his side’s rustiness.
"I was absolutely gutted to be honest, I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s very disappointing it’s not in our own hands.
"It’s hard to put a finger on it, maybe no game for two-and-a-half weeks could have been a factor. Sometimes it doesn’t start as well as you’d like it to.
"I know we didn’t start well but for long spells after we were the better side and just weren’t as clinical as we’d like to be.
"They had the better chances but that was due to us being open and attacking."
