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Hoops Line out 1 Alan Mannus 2 Pat Sullivan 3 Enda Stevens 4 Craig Sives 17 Ken Oman 14 Dean Kelly 21 Ronan Finn 8 Stephen O'Donnell 20 Billy Dennehy 18 Chris Turner 19 Gary Twigg (c)
Substitutes
22 Conor McCormack for Turner 70' 7 Gary McCabe for Kelly 76' 19 Gary O'Neill for O'Donnell 83' 6 Stephen Rice 11 Ciaran Kilduff 5 Dan Murray 16 Ryan Thompson
FC Flora:
1-Stanislav Pedõk, 19-Gert Kams, 22-Nikita Baranov, 24-Karl Palatu, 16-Markus Jürgenson, 11-Siim Luts, 10-Sergei Mošnikov, 41-Valeri Minkenen, 9-Rauno Alliku (Mašitšev 71'), 49-Zakaria Beglarišvili (Herrem ht),
14-Henri Anier (Hannes Anier 88').
Subs:
21-Aiko Orgla, 4-Aleksei Jahhimovitš, 5-Meelis Peitre, 7-Geir Andre Herrem, 8-Hannes Anier, 18-Nikolai Mašitšev, 25-Andre Frolov.
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Chris Turner...vital goal for Rovers
Rovers made history by winning their first Champions League game in a dramatic game at Tallaght Stadium. Alan Mannus made a fine penalty save in the 1st half and just two minutes later Chris Turner fired the Hoops into the lead.
Rovers started well with Billy Dennehy forcing keeper Pedok to push away his cross after only 2 minutes and a follow up attack Finn set up Dennehy again and Gary Twigg (making his 100th appearance) saw his shot deflected and Turner went down under the challenge of the keeper but Referee Kehlet of Denmark booked the Hoops number 18 for diving.
On 5 minutes Ronan Finn broke from midfield and his stinging shot had Pedok divinh to his left to push the shot out for a corner. The visiting keeper was busy again on 12 minutes after a short corner saw Dennehy shoot from the right edge of the box but the Flora number one beat away his shot.
The Tallinn side grew into the game and a stray Turner pass let Anier run at the Hoops defence and the ball broke for Alliku to cross low into the area and Craig Sives was relieved to see his sliced clearance fall into the arms of Mannus.
Flora were defending deep and playing on the break and on 20 minutes Stephen O’Donnell lost possession and it needed Enda Stevens to be alert to clear the danger. Alliku then dragged his shot wide from the right hand side of the Hoops area as the visitors grew in confidence.
Pedok punched away Finns cross under pressure from captain Twigg on 25 minutes and two minutes later some grat work from Turner saw him get to the bye-line and his low driven cross hit off Gary Twigg and was cleared.
Dean Kelly was a surprise starter but he had a fine game and his ball on 28 minutes beat both central defenders and fell for Twigg on the left and his shot from just inside the box was pushed away by Pedok.
Rovers had a great chance to take the lead after 30 minutes when a Sullivan cross beat Twigg but Dennehy connected with the ball in the area and beat the advancing keeper but defender Baranov got back to stop the ball going in.
On 32 minutes a lunging tackle by Sives saw Jurgenson fall inside the area and the Ref pointed to the spot. The home fans feared the worst as Victor Minkenen stepped up but the Stadium erupted as Alan Mannus dived to his left to save the low shot.
Rovers took advantage of this let off straight away as Kelly won the ball for Sullivan to feed Finn down the right and his low cross fell to Turner at the back post and he duly scored from close range.
The visitors were shocked and Kelly thought he had extended the lead just four minutes later but the Linesman flagged for an offside. Stevens then forced Pedok into a save from his low shot.
Oman headed Kelly’s corner wide before Turner dragged his shot wide from inside the area following Twigg’s lay-off. Turner couldn’t get his header on target from Stevens cross in the 44th minute.
Deep into added-on time a free-kick from 30 yards by Luts needed Mannus to dive low to push away the ball to safety. The second-half was a more cautious affair and Kelly and Dennehy both had low crosses cleared before Mannus commanded his box to take a dangerous cross on 51 minutes.
There was some nervous defending from the Hoops as the visitors pushed more men forward but on the hour a good run by Dennehy saw Turner fail to get a shot on goal from his cross with Kelly eventually firing the ball over the bar.
Gary Twigg turned his defender on 67 minutes but fired his shot wide. Ken Oman did well to stop Anier’s run from midfield a minute later.
With 15 minutes remaining a ball from Stevens saw Kelly control the ball in the box but his shot on the turn rolled past Pedok’s left hand post.
The visitors had their best chance of the second half with just six minutes remaining when Mosnikov forced McCormack to block his goal bound shot. The resulting corner fell to Anier in the box and his shot from 10 yards out needed a deflection to just miss the target.
Rovers finished strongly with Dennehy finding Twigg at the back post and his header across goal caused problems for Flora and Ken Oman saw his shot blocked. On 90 minutes Finn broke and fed substitute Gary O’Neill bit his low cross couldn’t find Twigg.
The last chance of the game saw Gary McCabe fire a free-kick from just outside the area just wide of Pedok’s left hand post.
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