Eskisehirspor 2-0 St Johnstone

[ian1964 10,565]

St Johnstone face an uphill struggle to reach the Europa League third qualifying round after a 2-0 defeat by Eskisehirspor in Turkey.

 

The Turkish side took the lead through a deflected Alper Potuk drive shortly before half-time.

 

A second deflected goal from Veysel Sari put the home side firmly in the driving seat.

 

However, a positive second-half display from the Saints will give them some hope for the return leg on 26 July.

 

The Perth side, minus the injured duo of captain Dave Mackay and new striker Gregory Tade, struggled with unusually high temperatures in Anatolia.

 

After only a minute the Turks carved out a chance when a cross from the right was volleyed just wide of the post by Patrick Malecki.

 

However, despite that early scare, and Eskisehirspor dominating possession, Saints limited the home side to shots from distance throughout the early period of the match.

 

The Eskisehirspor players claimed for a penalty as the ball appeared to strike the arm of Fraser Wright, but the referee was unmoved.

 

Malecki was active on the left wing for the hosts and Saints were fortunate former Celtic player Diomansy Kamara could not connect properly with a fizzing far-post cross from the Pole.

 

Saints manager Steve Lomas had clearly opted for a conservative formation, with only Sean Higgins up front, and a weak Jamie Adams header was the sum total of the visitors' attacking intent in the first half.

 

The thin blue line of the St Johnstone defence was breached five minutes before the break when Alper's shot was deflected past the stretching Alan Mannus into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

 

Saints opened the second half with more attacking intent, and Liam Craig tested goalkeeper Ruud Boffin with a long-range free-kick, but it was a comfortable save for the Belgian.

 

Goalscorer Alper then spurned a great chance with Saints temporarily down to 10 men after Wright took a knock in the visiting box.

 

The forward raced past the challenge of two Saints defenders but Mannus blocked his low shot from close range.

 

Shortly after, however, Veysel raced in from the right wing, and his low effort from a tight angle was deflected past Mannus by the unfortunate Wright.

 

The visiting defence lost some cohesion after the loss of the second goal and Mannus had to look smart to save another close range effort from former Dortmund defender Dede.

 

Lomas changed his system as the game reached its closing stages and the visitors searched for a way into the tie.

 

New signing Nigel Hasselbaink replaced the largely ineffective striker Higgins and fellow forward Steven May came on for midfielder Jamie Adams.

 

And stand-in captain Murray Davidson almost handed Saints a last-minute lifeline when he dribbled into the home six-yard box, but his ball across the face of goal was taken off the toe of May by a defender.

 

The second-half display will have given Saints fans encouragement, but the two-goal deficit could prove challenging to overturn.

 

Eskisehirspor: Boffin, Angelo, Dede, Cetin, Potuk, Zengin (Nuhiu 84), Malecki (Eser 78), Gucer, Sari, Karadeniz (Tello 69), Kamara. Subs Not Used: Erdogan, Bahtiyaroglu, Guven, Kara.

 

Goals: Potuk 41, Sari 64.

 

St Johnstone: Mannus, Callum Davidson, Wright, McCracken, Miller, Cregg (Moon 85), Millar, Murray Davidson, Craig, Adams (May 78), Higgins (Hasselbaink 69).Subs Not Used: Tuffey, Anderson, Robertson, Scobbie.

 

Referee: Ante Vucemilovic (Croatia)

 

Att: 13,000

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18893718

 

If that was Rangers I'm sure the report would have been quite different!

[Gribz 743]

1 down....how many to go?

[Daniel Amokachi 0]

I was going to slag them off but the old firm have hardly been up to much either in Europe lately...

[Craigy1881 79]

Sadly this is why by the time we get back into europe we will be starting at the 1st round. These scottish teams have no chance, Motherwell will get pumped out the champions league qualifiers and then the same will happen in their europa league. I hope dundee utd draw liverpool today and get a right doing. I won't even mention you know who.

[Guest Dutchy]

I hate to see Scottish teams beaten in Europe, but Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove, especially Cosgrove are such bad and unfair commentators, I hope their teams are humiliated.

[Craigy1881 79]

I hate to see Scottish teams beaten in Europe, but Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove, especially Cosgrove are such bad and unfair commentators, I hope their teams are humiliated.

 

I normally would agree with you but having watched these rival fans gloat in our demise and call for us to be banished I now want them all to get pumped. Bitter yes.

[Gribz 743]

Im normally hoping Scots teams do well, Hearts v Spurs last year was an EG. Ive even wanted Celtic to do well in games in the past like when they played Liverpool and Blackburn to shut up the english commentators, although I was hoping Porto did beat them in the final! When they played Arsenal that was reversed and it was good to see the Gooners stuff them.

 

Anyway but this season Im hoping they all crash out early which they will and show another factor in voting Rangers out is the SPL sides will go further back due to the amount of co-efficient points Rangers have accummlated over the years.