St Pat's rally from two goals down but fall just short in Uefa Youth League first leg

St Patrick’s Athletic 1

Red Star Belgrade 2

Dave Donnelly reports from Richmond Park

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC will travel to Belgrade in three weeks’ time in hope rather than expectation after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Red Star in their Uefa Youth League first leg tie.

A first-half double from the outstanding Marko Lazetic threatened to end the Saints’ European challenge at source, but a dominant second-half performance was rewarded with a deserved late goal from captain Ross Fay.

Red Star defender Stefan Malentijevic was shown a second yellow in the final minutes as referee Ivar Kristjansson finally lost patience with the cynical Serbian side, who were cheered on by 50 or so away fans.

All the damage was done early on as a clinical Red Star side picked their moments at the start and end of the first half to inflict a double blow to the home side.

Pats, shorn of Darragh Burns and James Abankwah as they were being held back for the first team game with Drogheda United on Friday, started slowly and paid the price early on.

Three minutes of sustained Red Star pressure ended with the imposing Lazetic free in the area, and he smashed a shot past a helpless Josh Keeley and into the roof of the net.

It took Pats some time to find their feet, but the back three combination of Sam and Ben Curtis and Reece Webb began to dictate the game from deep, and Ross Fay tested the visiting keeper with a low shot.

Keeley pulled off a wonderful save to deny Aleksandar Kahvic on the break, but they were otherwise comfortable until the sucker punch on the stroke of half time.

A Saints attack broke down and Red Star countered with pace and Lazetic had space once again to find the back of the net.

Pats emerged a different side in the second half and took the game to Red Star with confidence and poise, and the introduction of first-teamer McCormack added a playmaking threat.

First Darius Lipsiuc and then Luke O’Brien forced fine low saves from Stefan Marinkovic, but it was a second yellow for Malentijevic that provided the route back in.

McCormack curled the resulting free inches wide, but he created the goal in the first of seven minutes of injury time as his cross from the left brushed the head of Fay before bouncing into the far corner.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Josh Keeley; Reece Webb, Luke O’Brien, Darragh Dunne, Sam Curtis; Ross Fay (c), Ben Curtis, Kian Corbally; Jack O’Reilly (Ben McCormack 46), Thomas Lonergan (Ian Byrne 90), Darius Lipsiuc (Ugo Anny Nzekwue 79).

Crvena Zvezda: Stefan Marinkovic; Stefan Malentijevic, Stefan Lekovic, Ognjen Mimovic, Viktor Radojevic; Luka Lecic, Marko Curic, Mihajlo Milosavic (Marko Stojanovic 59); Marko Lazetic, Aleksandar Kahvic (Nikola Pantic 88), Mirko Nikolasevic (Stefan Pirgic 72).

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