Champions League Report: BATE Borisov 1 - 0 Dundalk

Dundalk leave Belarus th their Champion’s League qualifier still in the balance following a 1-0 loss at the hands of FC BATE Borisov.

The Lilywhites were far from their attacking best and had to put in a gut-busting performance to contain their Belarusian opposites at the Borisov Arena.

The single goal scoreline gives Dundalk a glimmer of hope when they play the return leg of this fixture in Tallaght next week.

Dundalk had to batten down the hatches in an intense first half that consisted of almost unrelenting BATE pressure punctuated with two lone Lilywhite forays forward.

Gary Rogers' goal led a charmed life and the visitors will have been relieved to hear the half time whistle with the score at 0-0.

BATE had the lion’s share of the possession and forced Dundalk to play a chasing game – not what they are used to in the SSE Airtricity Premier League this year.

The Yellow-Blues' probing balls into the box almost yielded results when Paddy Barrett was forced to make a risky but necessary interception on Vitali Rodionov’s cross to deny an incoming blue shirt a certain goal. It was still a heart-in-mouth moment as the ball cannoned off the crossbar before it found safety.

BATE seemed to grow a tad frustrated as the game went on and their dominance failed to translate into clear-cut chances. Willed on by an expectant and raucous crowd, they found an outlet in Stasevich who was a livewire on the left.

His crosses into the box proved the most accurate of the Blitzkrieg-like ariel assault and BATE would surely have broken the deadlock on the stroke of half time had it not been for a superb last ditch tackle from Dane Massey to take the ball off the toe of a BATE player in the six-yard box.

For the visitors, Benson and Horgan did manage to cause BATE some difficulties going forward.

Early on, Benson won the ball in an advance position to allow Horgan to get a cross away that was cut out.

The same two combined to etch out arguably Dundalk's best chances of the game when their quick passes unlocked the home defence and allowed Benson to fire away from the edge of the box. Only a sprawling dive to push the ball clear from ‘keeper Sergei Veremenko denied Dundalk the lead and a precious away goal.

With the game finishing 1-0, some fans might be asking themselves what might have been had BATE been reduced to ten men on the half hour. In a game where Dundalk needed every bit of luck they could get, a much-deserved red card would have gone a long way to alleviating the pressure.

The Ukrainian referee had a huge decision to make when Maksim Zharvnerchik went crashing into Stephen O’Donnell with his arm raised. The referee gave him the benefit of the doubt and Zhavnerchik was exceptionally fortunate to skip off with a yellow card.

Stephen Kenny changed to a more defensive model in the second half with John Mountney and Chris Shields coming on for Patrick McElenye and Robbie Benson, although perhaps it was a decision necessitated due to fatigue as much as a shift in approach. BATE continued to dominate the game albeit with a slackened tempo from the blistering first half.

Dundalk kept their lines well for over a hour and this was crucial to keeping their opponents at bay. With BATE failing to create guilt edge opportunities in the final third, a litany of shots from distance whizzed past the Dundalk goal-frame. The Belarusians might have started to think it was going to be one of those nights.

In the end, it was a Dundalk error rather than BATE brilliance that led to the opening goal. Sean Gannon’s attempted pass to Mountney was snuffed out by former Arsenal man Alexander Hleb, who played a through ball into the box for Mikhail Gordeichuk to rifle past Roger’s near post.

Despite a brief respite following the goal, Dundalk slugged out the remainder of the game with one eye on the clock. A late super-save from Rogers was required to deny Stasevich and then the crossbar came to the rescue again to stop Kaspars Dubra giving BATE a two-goal advantage.

Dundalk will be kicking themselves for not creating more chances in the game but at 1-0 they will at least have a chance to atone for a sub par performance and measure themselves against a real up-and-coming side on the European stage.

BATE Borisov: Sergei Veremenko, Maksim Zhavnerchik (Aleksandr Hleb 59), Kaspars Dubra, Denis Polyakov, Artur Pikk, Aleksei Rios, Aleksandr Karnitski (Aleksandr Volodko 88), Yuri Kendysh, Igor Stasevich, Mirko Ivanic (Mikhail Gordeichuk 68), Vitali Rodionov.

Subs not used: Denis Scherbitski (gk), Viatali Gaiduchik, Dmitri Mozolevski, Valerie Gvilia.

Booked: Maksim Zhavnerchik (29).

Dundalk: Gary Rogers, Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey, Ronan Finn, Stephen O’Donnell (capt), Robbie Benson (John Mountney 46) Daryl Horgan, Patrick McEleney (Chris Shields 46), David McMillan (Ciaran Kilduff 77).

Subs not used: Gabriele Save (gk), Shane Grimes, Georgie Poynton, Darren Meenan.

Booked: Ronan Finn (64).

Referee: Yehven Aranovsky (Ukraine).

Attendance: 11,321.

ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Igor Stasevich (BATE Borisov).