St Pat's leave it late to beat nine-man Kalju in Inchicore

Irish Daily Mirror

3 days ago

Kalju lost the plot at Richmond Park and yet for 90 long minutes it looked like St Pat's wouldn't get their act together to capitalise.But then their late trio of subs joined forces to deliver a fairytale ending at the death with Chris Forrester pouncing to put Saints in the driving seat heading for Estonia next week.Kalju were physical and aggressive throughout and had two players sent off - both on second yellows - in a crazy four minute spell in the second-half.But despite peppering their box for the remaining 26 minutes, Stephen Kenny's men were struggling to apply the killer finish for the goal they deserved.Hitting the net hasn't been a problem in their most recent outings, but had been a major cause for concern before that.And it looked like those issues were resurfacing here.In the build-up, Kenny said a win by any means necessary would suffice. The performance didn't need to be a thing of beauty, once St Pat's got the victory.And when Kalju pair Rommi Siht and Danyl Mashchenko walked in the 64th and 68th minutes, St Pat's knew they had no more excuses for making hard work of things.Still, it needed the 79th minute introduction of Brandon Kavanagh, Conor Carty and Forrester to settle matters.Kavanagh slipped a ball in behind nine-man Kalju's badly stretched defence for Carty and he drew a save from Maksim Pavlow, only for Forrester tucked home the rebound.And he showed fancy footwork in doing so too.Richmond Park has been a happy hunting ground for the Saints in European competition, winning 13 of their last 23 games here, and they started like the meant business.Kenny's men dominated the ball throughout the first half and had their Estonian opponents on the back foot until half-time.And yet the visitors were more than happy with how the game was panning out at that point.For all their possession, Saints struggled to work Russian goalkeeper Pavlov enough. And that was frustrating considering how shaky he looked under high balls.But Pavlov did redeem himself somewhat when getting his body behind a Jay McClelland drive and then thwarting Jake Mulraney at full stretch when the St Pat's winger cut in from the right and unleashed a thumping shot.Mulraney wasn't long on the pitch at that point, having replaced Zack Elbouzedi midway through the half when the latter suffered a nasty wrist injury after landing awkwardly under a challenge.Elbouzedi had picked the ball up on his own half and went on a brilliant run at pace down the middle of the pitch.Like a knife through butter, he sliced through poor challenges and held opponents at bay until Mashchenko brought him down.The Ukrainian - later sent off - was booked for the foul just outside the area and St Pat's players quickly signalled to the bench that Elbouzedi was in a bad way.He walked off holding his wrist, with pain etched across his face.St Pat's supporters had been enjoying the early entertainment, but the longer Kalju were holding on, the more frustrated those fans became.Simon Power's shot from the edge of the area lacked, well, power, and fell kindly at Pavlov's feet.Baggley then clipped a ball into Power in the box but Modou Tambedou pinched it off his toes before the winger could connect.Kalju had a bit more about them in the second-half, and grew in confidence after watching St Pat's make such hard work of things.And Mattias Mannilaan may well have opened the scoring were it not for an important Tom Grivosti block.But even though Saints were huffing and puffing - 'we're too f*****g nice' was one of the shouts from the crowd - their willingness to keep pushing never waned.And once the Kalju pair saw red, St Pat's had clarity of purpose.They immediately introduced striker Aidan Kenna for fullback Ryan McLaughlin in the hope of driving home that advantage, with the sub joining Mason Melia in attack.But Melia fluffed the host's best chance of the game, volleying a deep Grivosti cross wide from close range before Keena smashed a shot from six yards at Pavlov.Chances kept going abegging thereafter, but Saints stalwart Forrester was the difference maker when it mattered in the final throes.
As he came into the game, a supporter in the main stand roared at Forrester 'you can change this game' - and he did just that with a precious lead goal in the tie.
St Patrick's Athletic: Anang 6; McLaughlin 6 (Keena 70, 6), Redmond 7, Grivosti 7, McClelland 7; Lennon 7 (Forrester 79, 7), Baggley 7; Elbouzedi 6 (Mulraney 24, 6), Leavy 6 (Kavanagh 79, 6), Power 6; Melia 6 (Carty 79, 6).
Nõmme Kalju: Pavlov 6; Tarassenkov 6, Mashchenko 6, Podholjuzin 6 (Korre 45, 6), Tambedou 6; Patrikejevs 5 (Liit 72 5), Musolitin 5 (Nikolajev 45, 6_, Kask 6, Siht 6; Mannilaan 6, Ivanov 5 (Guilherme 62, 6).
Referee: Ladislav Szikszay (Czechia).