Massey: Let’s

DANE Massey insists Dundalk will use their performance in Split two years ago as inspiration ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League second qualifying round second leg tie away to FH Hafnarfjordur.

Steven Lennon’s 77th-minute strike in last week’s first leg cancelled out David McMillan’s opener 11 minutes earlier, meaning it is the Icelandic side who have the upper hand ahead of the game because of their away goal.

However, Massey is confident Dundalk can win away from home in Europe.

The left-back was part of the Lilywhites side who claimed a 2-1 victory away to Hajduk Split in 2014, courtesy of goals from Pat Hoban and Kurtis Byrne. And while that result was not enough on that occasion, the former Bray Wanderers man knows a win is all that Dundalk require in Iceland.

‘We’ve been in worse circumstances than this,’ he said.

‘Take Split, for instance. We lost at home and then we went away and won and only lost by one goal on aggregate so I think the lads will be excited for Wednesday night and I think we’ll score.

‘That experience from Split and Belarus will stand to us. We’ve done well away in Europe over the last couple of years. We were always going to have to score anyway, so we can’t go away demoralised. We have to keep our heads high and be confident and we’ll look forward to it now,’ he said.

The 28-year-old described Lennon’s equaliser as a ‘major blow’ but insisted his side had learnt a lot from the first leg.

‘We felt we had done well and deserved the goal. We had a couple of good chances. Obviously they didn’t have to work too hard for their goal because it was a defensive mistake and we should have cleared it, but we have to remain positive going into next week.

‘There were three of our lads there and I think there was just a panic to get the ball out and neither of them did. I think one of the lads got half a touch on it and then it came off Stevie’s studs for the goal, so that took it away from Gary, but we know from past experience that we can’t give any chances away. That was a half a chance and he put it in the bottom corner, so it was a great goal in fairness to him.

‘We felt we controlled a good part of the game possession-wise and I felt we created a good few chances, so we have to be happy with that.

‘We learnt a lot tonight. They caught us by surprise a bit with their number 13. They hit him with high balls a lot from the back and we’ll have to look at this game again to look at their tendencies to see what they do from the back.

‘Doumbia