Bohemians left to rue missed chances as they are forced settle for a 1-1 draw in their hugely entertaining UEFA Youth League Round of 32 tie with PAOK FC. The young Gypsies played host to the Greek giants in a breathtaking encounter with technical a
Bohemians left to rue missed chances as they are forced settle for a 1-1 draw in their hugely entertaining UEFA Youth League Round of 32 tie with PAOK FC.
The young Gypsies played host to the Greek giants in a breathtaking encounter with technical ability of the highest order on show from both sides. This was Bohs second year in the competition after last year’s narrow defeat to one of the tournament favourites, FC Midtjylland, 4-2.
The hosts flew out of the traps, taking the game to to their illustrious visitors and missed a glorious chance to take the lead after two minutes. After some neat build up play on the right wing, Dawson Devoy delivered a clever los cross into front man, Brandon Bermingham, who turned sharplyvollying inches past the far post.
The Gypsies blistering start paid dividends just minutes later, when Devoy sprayed the ball out to Jack Moylan. The left winger showed great turn of pace and quick feet to cut inside and pass the ball into the far post to put his side one up.
Unfortunately the lead didn’t last long. as Antonis Gaitanidis equalized with a brilliant run and finish from the edge of the area sending the boisterous travelling support even wilder, and there was just ten minutes on the clock.
The open encounter continues at a blistering pace with both sides showing great quiality in possession. Gavin Molloy went close with a header, before man of the match Dawson devoy had a glorious opportunity to put his side back in front. Ross Tierney, who has been a regular in Keith Long’s first team, showed excellent feet inside the area before being bundled over by Theodoros Pournaras.
Up stepped Devoy, who smashed his penalty low into the bottom left hand corner, only to be denied by a brilliant right hand of Christos Talichmanidis.
The half time break did nothing to disrupt the flow of the game, as the home side created two almost identiucal chances right from the restart. Both Brandon Bermingham and goalscorer Moylan, fashioned a yard of space slightly to the left of the area, cutting inside looked to curl efforts into the far corner but couldn’t hit the target.
The visitors responded well, keeping the ball under pressure and took the sting out of the play but creating half chances from set pieces.
Both sets of players seemed to tire as the half wore on, understandably given the pace of the game, but there was still time for substitute Evan Ferguson to power a header on target just before the final whistle.
Bohs will hope the missed chances don’t come back to haunt them in the second leg in three weeks time, but on tonight’s showing they will have nothing to fear, as they were greeted to a standing ovation from the 1227 in attendance.
Bohemians: Sean Bohan (GK), Denis Smith (Gavin Liam O’Brien, 66’), Mitchell Byrne, Alex Kelly (c), Gavin Molloy, Ross Tierney (Evan Ferguson, 66’), Katlego Mashigo, Brandon Bermingham, Dawson Devoy, Jack Moylan, Thomas Considine
Subs: Jamie Cleary, Jack Casey, Evan Ferguson, Jack Funge, Colin Conroy, Gavin Liam O’Brien, Robert Mahon
PAOK FC: Christos Talichmanidis (GK), Kyriakos Glaxis, Panagiotis Panagiotou, Petros Kaloutsikidis, Theocharis Tsiggaras, Vasillis Grosdis (Efstathios Tachatos, 89’), Antonis Gaitanidis (Georgios Koutsias, 89’), Dimitrios – Rafail Theodoridis, Georgios Doumtsis (c), Dimitrios Tsopouroglu (Christos Tzolis, 57’), Theodoros Pournaras (Ioannis – Antonios Pipiliaris, 70’)
Subs: Konstantinos Mpalomenos, Konstantinos Koulierakis, Efstathios Tachatos, Ioannis – Antonios Pipiliaris, Christos Tzolis, Dimitrios Panidis, Georgios Koutsias
Referee: Robert Jenkins (Wales)
Attendance: 1227
