Fc Tobol Vs Viktoria Plzen – Derry City eyeing European promotion despite first-leg deficit against Kazakhstan’s FC Tobol Kostanay. Derry stalwart Patrick McAleen will ‘do business’ at Tallaght Stadium in his 50th European appearance
Fc Tobol Vs Viktoria Plzen LIVE HERE!!
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Fc Tobol Vs Viktoria Plzen
Europa League Third Qualifying Round Second Leg Derry City (0) v FC Tobol Kostanay (1), Tallaght Stadium, Thursday 7.45 – Live on RTÉ2
Derry City’s Patrick Mceleney Hoping To Inspire Another Comeback In Europe
In what should be a highlight of his 50th appearance in Europe, Patrick McElhinney hopes to play his part in creating a piece of history for Derry City at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night.
After an encouraging performance following last week’s tough trip to Kazakhstan, only a superb strike from Tobol left-back Roman Asrankulov separated the sides as Derry looked confident they could overturn a narrow deficit and progress to the fourth round for the first time in Europe.
European goals 🔥 Goals against HB Tórshavn and KuPS Kuopio got us this far! pic.twitter.com/DRYbR1qtIe — Derry City FC (@derrycityfc) August 16, 2023
It followed Dundalk and BATE Borisov’s 2016 Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round 3-0 win in Dublin for Stephen Kenny’s side midfielder McElhinney, who lost 1-0 in Belarus in the first leg. 24 resulted in qualification for the group stage of the Europa League.
Mol Cup 2021/2022
“I’ve been there in big comeback legs where you have to do the job,” said Derry captain McElheny.
“These nights don’t come often. We can compete, no doubt about it. They said it’s impossible to go to the fourth round. We just don’t want it to end. This is a massive game. The fans have to get behind us and we have to do our job and do it.”
“It’s something to be very excited about. We’ve given ourselves a real platform to try to make progress,” Higgins said.
Despite defeating Swiss side Basel in the previous round, Tobol threw up no surprises in the first leg against Derry on a poor pitch in Kostanay.
Brian Maher’s Heroics Keep Derry City Well In Contention Against Tobol
“They played as we expected, pressed high, played on the front foot and the front three were really talented players,” Higgins said. “They have a specific way of playing and I thought by sticking to our principles we nullified a lot of their threats.”
Higgins stressed that early or late goals didn’t matter as long as Derry found a way to score by suppressing Tobol’s threat. “We have players who are top and fit. This gives us a real opportunity. It would be fantastic not only for the players and the staff but for the whole football club. There is a real buzz here and the community is behind us. But we don’t want to just go out and check a box. We want to make the playoffs.”
Progress will face Czech Republic Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of the play-offs after a 4-0 win over Malta’s Gjira United.
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