Vorskla Poltava -v- Sligo Rovers

• Jessica Farry
• Thu, Jul 28 2011


Sligo Rovers begin their European adventure on Thursday night as they make the trip to face Vorskla Poltava in the third round of the Europa League qualifiers in Ukraine.

Paul Cook has a fully fit side to choose from and has no suspensions. Sligo will be full of confidence heading in to this game seeing as they sit at the top of the league table and with goalkeeper Brendan Clarke having just set a new league record with nine clean sheets in a row.

Vorskla beat Glentoran 5-0 on aggregate to qualify for the third qualifying round. Sligo manager Paul Cook is confident that his side can get a decent result. “We are looking forward to it. Sometimes you don’t like distractions in that we‘re really focusing on our title challenge. Everyone would agree that is what we‘re trying to do. But this is a great experience for us and we are keen to acquit ourselves well.

"We know how we like to play and we’ll get the balance right. We can’t go there with a kamikaze approach and risk shipping early goals. The opening stages will tell us a lot and if we go there and play well I think we can come away with a good score line to take back to The Showgrounds.”

Captain Richie Ryan is looking forward to the task at hand: “It is going to be a great experience for the lads. We’ve watched some of their matches but there is only so much you can take from that and in a way it is a step into the unknown. But it is the same for them really.

“We’ll go there and try and get a result. The different climate could be an issue but we’ll prepare as best as we can. We train in the stadium on Wednesday night and we’ll get used to it and cope with it.”

Vorskla Poltava
Injured: Unavailable.
Doubtful: Unavailable.
Suspended: Unavailable.

Sligo Rovers
Injured: None.
Doubtful : None.
Suspended : None.

Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU).
Paddy Power odds: Vorskla Poltava 1/7; Draw 6/1; Sligo Rovers 14/1