SOCCER: Having narrowly survived their second encounter with Ekranas on Thursday night, Cork City scored a more comprehensive victory over the officials of Djugardens yesterday in Nyon, where the two clubs were drawn to face each other in the second qualifying round of the Uefa Cup.
After being handed a home game in the first leg the Swedish league leaders, who comfortably beat Shamrock Rovers in this competition three years ago, sought to have the order of the games reversed on the basis that the stadium they will use in Stockholm is due to stage a concert two days later and is therefore not available.
City chairman Brian Lennox, however, insisted his club would not surrender the advantage of knowing what they must to do to progress back at Turner's Cross and Uefa officials sided with the Irish club when the matter came before them for a decision late yesterday afternoon.
"Damien (Richardson) had warned me beforehand that this might well happen," said Lennox afterwards. "The bigger clubs always want to play at home in the second leg, particularly against what they perceive as being smaller opposition, so none of this surprised me really.
"When it came up I made it clear that there was no way we were going to budge. It would have been crazy to - the days of switching games so as to get a big gate are long gone. It's all about progressing now."
The upshot is Djugardens must either ensure the stadium in Stockholm is available or switch the game to another venue, possibly their own ground, though that is unlikely because Uefa's prohibition on bench seating would severely limit capacity.
Lennox said he was pleased with the draw and is optimistic City can do well despite Djugardens being a tough proposition.
"We played Malmo last year and beat them home and away so we're not going completely into the unknown," he said.
Djugardens lead the Swedish league by three points from Helsingborg with 15 games played, while Malmo are one of two clubs one point back.
"I saw them against Rovers a few years ago and was very impressed," said Richardson upon hearing the outcome of the draw. "They were big, athletic and technically very good and by the looks of things they've improved since then.
"It's the sort of team you want to play in Europe, though, and it's a chance for us to show how much the game here has improved over the last few seasons. It's a very exciting challenge."
Shelbourne, meanwhile, face a reunion with Norwegian champions Rosenborg if they can do enough against Steaua in Bucharest on Wednesday night to progress to the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
The Trondheim club beat Shelbourne in 2000 when the clubs met in the same competition, the Norwegians gaining a firm advantage by winning 3-1 in Dublin.
"We gave them a bit of a start that night but I still felt we played quite well over there," said Pat Fenlon yesterday.
"We led 1-0 and had a couple of chance to lead 2-0, which would have given them a few worries, before ending up with a draw.
"Getting them again in the draw is a great incentive for everybody ahead of Wednesday's game but we have to get past Steaua first."
Rosenborg also beat Bohemians 5-0 on aggregate in the Champions League two years ago but they are enduring a difficult season and lie eighth in the league, 12 points behind leaders IK Start.
With Cork now certain to be playing on August 11th and 25th, and Shelbourne potentially involved in games earlier in each of those weeks, the league game between the two clubs originally pencilled in for Friday the 12th will now definitely be postponed.
Cork's footballers and hurlers are involved in championship matches on the Saturday and Sunday respectively and so City have proposed putting the game back to the Monday evening but Shelbourne have yet to agree and an early kick-off on the Sunday afternoon remains a possibility.
UEFA CUP 2AND QUALIFYING ROUND: Krylia Sovetov v BATE; Sopron Matav v Metallurg Donetsk; Wisla Plock v Grasshoppers; Austria Magna v MSK Zilina; FC Superfund v Zenit St Petersburg; MTZ-RIPO v FK Teplice; Groclin Dyskobolia v Dukla Banska Bistryka; Banants Yerevan v Dnipro; Legia Warsaw v FC Zurich; FC Nistru Otaci v Liebherr GAK; Halmstads BK v Linfield; FC Midtjylland v B36 Torshavn; Sk Brann v AC Allianssi; FK Metalurgs v Genk; Viking FK v Rhyl; MyPa v Dundee; Carmarthen v FC Copenhagen; Mainz v Keflavik; Djurgardens IF v Cork City; Esbjerg v Tromso; Inter Zapresic v Crvena Zvezda; Baskimi v Maccabi Petach Tikva; Dinamo Bucuresti v Omonia Nicosia; Lokomotiv Plovdiv v OFK Belgrade; Apoel Nicosia v Maccabi Tel-Aviv; Liteks Lovetch v Rijeka; FC Vaduz v Besiktas; Vardar v Rapid Bucuresti; CMC Publikum v Levski Sofia; Zeta v Siroki Brijeg; Domzale v Moadon Sport Ashdod. First legs to be played August 11th; second legs to be played August 25th.
