Dundalk were hugely unlucky in their Europa League group D encounter with Zenit St Petersburg as the Russian side won 2-1 in Tallaght tonight.
In a highly contested game Stephen Kenny’s men more than matched the Russian side which is worth over €160m, and held their own creating a number of key chances in the first half.
The Lillywhites went into the break 0-0 with their illustrious opponents and had the dream start in the second half as Robbie Benson struck from the edge of the box to give the Louth men the lead. However Dundalk didn’t rest on their lead and were unlucky not to be two in front after Dean Massey headed against the post after a superb Daryl Horgan free kick.
Although the League of Ireland champions fixture congestion did catch up with them after the hour mark as Zenit pressed for an equaliser and they were rewarded on the 71st minute when the Russians’ capitalised on a poor clearance by Dundalk keeper Sava, which resulted in Robert Mak slotting home.
Dundalk did push for a second but found themselves 2-1 down on the 77th minute after Giulano scored from a superb passing move on the left hand side. Dundalk who were clearly tiring tried to push for an equaliser but were unable to break the Zenit defence down, Stephen Kenny’s men could have found themselves 3-1 down after conceding a penalty late on but Sava pulled off a superb save to keep the score 2-1.
However the lillywhites still have a real chance of making the knockout stages despite the defeat and recent performances have proven they will be no push over.