Bohemians -v- Olimpija Ljubljana

• Raymond Denning
• Thu, Jul 21 2011


Bohemians will need to re-write the history books if they are to progress to the third qualifying round of the Europa League when they welcome Olimpija Ljubljana to Dalymount Park on Thursday evening (Kick- off, 7.45 pm).

After going down to a 2-0 defeat to Olimpija in Slovenia last week, Bohemians will require one of their best performances in Europe if they are to turn this tie on its head.

To put this in perspective, only twice in their history have The Gypsies overturned a first leg deficit to advance in European competition. In 1978 Bohs beat AC Omonia of Cyprus on away goals after a 2-1 defeat in the away leg. The other occasion was in 2003, when BATE Borisov of Belarus were beaten 3-0 at Dalymount Park following their 1-0 victory in Belarus the previous week.

Bohemians were left aggrieved at two controversial refereeing decisions which led directly to Olimpija’s two goals last week. Portuguese official Carlos Xistra awarded a penalty against Bohs’ keeper Barry Murphy in first half stoppage time and a second half free kick given against Owen Heary was converted, like the penalty, by Slovenian international Dare Vrsic.

“I thought both decisions, for the penalty and the free-kick were very, very dubious, particularly the free-kick,” said Gypsies boss Pat Fenlon.

“I’m disappointed, because when you don’t concede from play you have to think your game plan’s been quite good…I thought we coped OK. We soaked up a lot of pressure and I can’t remember when they played little one-twos and got in behind us.”

For Thursday’s second leg, Bohemians will be without Anto Flood, who picked up a shoulder injury in a car accident this week. The home side will also be without goalkeeper Chris O’Connor who remains out with a broken jaw. Stephen Traynor is doubtful after injuring his ankle in training yesterday.

As for Olimpija, they come to Dalymount on the back of a humbling 3-0 home defeat to CM Celje in their first league outing at the weekend. Manager Dušan Kosic does welcome defender Erik Salkic from suspension however.

Turning to Thursday’s second leg, Fenlon was cautiously optimistic: “We’ve got to score the first goal and see how they react, do they panic a little bit? It’s about scoring the first goal. They are a good side and we’ll have our work cut out.”

As Fenlon admits, Bohemians will need to strike first and strike early if they are to avoid an exit from Europe after only one tie for the third successive year.

Bohemians
Injured: Anto Flood (shoulder), Chris O’Connor (jaw)
Doubtful: Stephen Traynor (ankle).
Suspended: None.

Olimpija Ljubljana
Injured: Unavailable.
Doubtful: Unavailable.
Suspended: None.

Referee: Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni (Italy)
Paddy Power Odds: Bohemians 8/5, Draw 9/4, Olimpija Ljubljana 6/4.
Extratime prediction: Bohemians 1-1 Olimpija Ljubljana.