Europa League Second Qualifying Round

Shakhtyor Soligorsk 5

Derry City 1

Shakhtyor Soligorsk win 6-1 on aggregate

By Gary Ferry

IN BELARUS

Derry City’s Europa League adventure has ended with a comprehensive defeat in Soligorsk.

Peter Hutton’s team were cruelly exposed in defence by a rampant Soligorsk side in this Europa League Second tie, with the hosts picking the City defence apart at will.

In the end it was five and it could have been more as Soligorsk sailed through to the next round, but it was simply a case of what might have been for Derry.

The Candy Stripes managed a dream start when Michael Duffy opened the scoring on six minutes and after that there were chances for Patrick McEleney and Rory Patterson.

But when Derry needed to be they were not clinical, in contrast to the hosts, who took their chances when they came.

City arrived in Belarus with plenty of optimism despite the 1-0 reverse from the first leg and it all started so, so well.

The Candy Stripes had no time to wait before they were celebrating as they scored just six minutes in.

Goalkeeper Kotenko needlessly gave the ball away to Derry and Rory Patterson collected a pass just inside the penalty area. The striker did superbly to hold off his man, and turn and fire a shot goalwards which the Soligorsk goalkeeper could not hold on to and Michael Duffy was on hand to slam the ball into the net to give Derry an absolute dream start.

But that lead lasted just three minutes as Soligorsk hit back impressively. But again the goal would have dismayed Peter Hutton as a cross into the area found Asipenka who was allowed to head the ball down to Balanovich, who, completely unmarked, lashed the ball past Gerard Doherty from ten yards.

It was a blow for Derry but they had been given encouragement by that early goal and they opened up the Shakhtyor defence again on 20 minutes. Michael Duffy broke through on the left and again he went for the early cross, this time finding Patterson who held the ball up and laid it off for Barry McNamee, who drilled his shot badly wide when he should have at least tested Kotenko.

Derry were right in this game but their defensive vulnerability cost them just shy of the half hour as Shakhtyor scored their second with a goal even more avoidable than the first.

Alexandre Guruli was allowed to cut in from the left hand side and his weakly hit shot somehow travelled through the legs of two Derry defenders, and past an unsighted Gerard Doherty, before it nested surprisingly into the net.

A half that started so promisingly for Derry almost ended disastrously as a misplaced header from McBride inadvertently out Yanush through on goal. Gerard Doherty was off his line quickly and won the challenge ahead of the Shakhtyor striker, but he only managed to clear the ball into the path of Asipenka, who lobbed the Derry goalkeeper from 35 yards, and the ball was headed directly into the net until McBride recovered to hook the ball off the line.

The Candy Stripes were certainly on the front foot in the early stages of the second half and they should have levelled on the night as Patrick McEleney fed Aaron Barry high on the left and the full back sent a superb ball through the Shakhtyor defence for the run of Rory Patterson, who was denied a goal Kotenko who blocked bravely.

That proved to be a crucial miss as Shakhtyor sealed the win just seconds later. Again the Derry defence was exposed as a simple pass from Yanush sent Asipenka through on goal. Doherty did well to block the striker’s first effort, but the rebound fell back to Asipenka who showed great composure before lashing the ball high into the net to make it 3-1 on the night.

There was still time for Yanush to add some extra gloss to the score line as he hammered the ball past Doherty after a weary Derry defence had been cut open again all too easily.

The final nail in the coffin came in added time when Patrick McEleney lost the ball in his own penalty area and substitute Galiuza fired past an exposed Doherty.

Soligorsk were easily the better of the two teams over the course of the tie.

Teams

Shakhtyor: Artur Kotenko, Siarhei Matveychik, Aliaksei Yanushkevich, Mikalai Kasheuski, Nikolai Yanush, Dmitri Asipenka (Illia Galuza 79’), Artem Stargorodskyy, Aliaksandr Yurevich, Siarhei Balanovich (Andrei Liavonchyk 85’),, Alexandre Guruli (Aliaksei Rios 73’), Ihar Kuzmianok.

Derry: Gerard Doherty, Ryan McBride, Cliff Byrne, Danny Ventre, Aaron Barry, Michael Duffy (Philip Lowry 73’), Barry Molloy, Barry McNamee, Stephen Dooley (Mark Timlin 61’), Patrick McEleney, Rory Patterson (Nathan Boyle 79’).

Referee: Elmir Pilav (Bosnia)

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