AS HE REFLECTED on his side’s elimination at the hands of Rosenborg, Cork City manager John Caulfield admitted his frustration over their struggles in front of goal in Europe.
City’s 3-0 defeat in Trondheim last night saw them knocked out of the Europa League with a 5-0 loss on aggregate in the third qualifying round of the competition.
The Leesiders have now failed to score in their last six European fixtures, a run which stretches back to last season’s tie against AEK Larnaca, which they lost 2-0.
Caulfield’s side found themselves in the Europa League after falling at the first hurdle in the Champions League last month at the hands of Legia Warsaw, who were 4-0 winners.
City, who struck the woodwork twice last night against the Norwegian champions, were without the services of leading goalscorer Graham Cummins due to injury.
“It would have been great if we could have scored but scoring in Europe is very, very difficult,” Caulfield said in his post-match press conference. “People might say Graham was missed tonight but Graham has played in a number of the European matches.
“Scoring has been very difficult for us in Europe this year. I know that the opposition have been better than ourselves over the two legs because we’re playing at a higher level, but we had opportunities which we didn’t take. That’s probably the most disappointing thing.”
Rosenborg doubled their overall advantage by half-time thanks to goals from Besim Serbecic and Alexander Søderlund. Anders Trondsen completed the scoring for the hosts, who advance to a tie against Macedonian champions KF Shkëndija in the play-off round.
Caulfield’s side, who won a league and cup double in 2017, will now turn their attention back to domestic matters. Having booked their place in the FAI Cup’s second round last weekend, City entertain St Patrick’s Athletic in the Premier Division on Sunday.
Caulfield said: “Obviously we’re disappointed with the result. It’ll be interesting to see how Rosenborg do going forward. I think they’re a very good side. Unfortunately from our point of view the 25th minute in our last three European games has been a bad moment for us.
“Despite starting matches well, we’ve conceded and ultimately they’ve been soft goals. It was always an uphill battle then. Still, our lads stuck at it and kept going but you could see the quality of their pace and movement. Over the two games Rosenborg proved that they’re a better side so you have to take your hat off to them.”
He added: “We now have to try and win the league and the cup. That’s what we did last year. We’re top of the league and we need to try and achieve that again.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
Rock and a hard place for Irish teams, build a good team, lose your best players, build a good team. I cant see this cycle changing anytime soon, but Im still looking forward to Pats down the Cross on Sunday. You cant beat live football.
@Eamonn Duggan: to be fair, City where never going to beat Warsaw or Rosenberg. There budgets are 10 times more than City. In saying that the cutting edge up front wasnt there. Lets win the league ans build for next year.
@Eamonn Duggan: Probably right, Sadlier will likely head off due to lack of game time,( can’t make out how he was’nt being picked),heard Beattie could go as well,think its time for a new keeper as well, Mcnulty given great service but maybe time to give someone else a go.Josh O Hanlon not given much game time either, maybe he should have replaced Cummins? Hope he’s not thinking of heading off too? Wonder why sometimes Caulfield signs players then does’nt play them. Aaron Barry, Danny Kane,young howard from Preston,O Hanlon does’nt play enough imo, young fella from UCC looks a great player, thought he might have got a run against Home Farm.
Wasnt there lots of cork & Loi fans chirping here that they couldnt wait till they meet celtic in the next round etc etc & that they would really put it up to them.cork are light years behind celtic&celtic are light years behind the top european teams.all very depressing.
@Glenn k ☘☘☘: behind Celtic yes. Light years behind no. European players are far superior than what is coming out of the UK and Ireland. They do things like having a coaching systems.
Both cork and dundalk, would you just go out and buy decent keepers.
@Trevor Beacom: Where from? With what money?
Goes to show how utterly utterly terrible the standard of football is in the league of Ireland
@Gary O’Connor: compared to what Gary ?
@Gary O’Connor: “utterly utterly” do you have the stutters?
You speak like a man that has never seen a LOI. Don’t feed the troll lads.