Slow start put paid to hopes
Spirited second-half not enough to win opening clash
A SPIRITED second-half performance wasn’t enough to save Wexford Youths from defeat in their opening game in the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying round group stages at Ferrycarrig Park on Tuesday.
With little room for manoeuvre, the loss meant Wexford’s dreams of advancing to the knockout stages were left hanging in the balance with games against Gintra Universitetas and Cruileni still to play.
In the cold light of day, Wexford will look back on this performance with great pride, albeit infused with a feeling of what might have been. Kazygurt came into the game as first seeds, carrying a big reputation as a side which managed draws against the mighty Barcelona and Frankfurt in recent years.
However, it was Youths who played most of the football. Fair enough, Kazygurt did have pace and power in their front four, posing the type of challenge Wexford just don’t face in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League.
There’s an argument that could be made that, rather than benefiting Wexford, playing two league games could have been more of a hindrance.
The pace of those games, and the opposition faced, simply didn’t match what Kazygurt brought to the table.
By the time Wexford found their feet and matched their opponents’ speed of thought and movement, they were 2-0 down. No matter how much video you watch, until you step out and face an opposition, it’s impossible to replicate their qualities in those types of situations.
But when Wexford did settle they were well able to mix it with the Kazakhs. The visitors certainly weren’t anything special when pressed in tight areas, with Youths putting in a display full of energy and industry.
Youths’ passing in and around midfield was more accurate than their opponents. Kylie Murphy was exceptional in the centre, while Maria Delahunty added an elusiveness that’s hard for opponents to contain, whether that’s between the lines or pushed up front.
Tie those in with Emma Hansberry settling into her game as the first-half wore on, and the back four looking to hit the wingers deep, and Wexford eventually got to show what they were about.
But oh, how they would like those first 15 minutes back. It’s funny, as the statistics sheet will show a Kazygurt goal in the opening minute. However, it was Wexford who attacked first with Linda Douglas feeding Maria Delahunty on the right. Her cross was poor though, landing on top of the net.
Straight down the field went the Kazakh side. Charity Adule got away on the right, sent a perfect low ball across goal and Gulnara Gabelia was on hand to fire past Tamara Furlong from close range.
Delahunty tested Oksana Zheleznyak with a thunderbolt free-kick in the fourth minute, but Kazygurt were still getting in too easily. When Gabelia got away on the wing, Jess Gleeson stooped to head another excellent cross behind for a corner.
When Zheleznyak fumbled a Hansberry corner, the ball didn’t fall to a Youths attacker and the visitors cleared the danger. Then, almost a carbon copy of the first goal, but this time down the left, Gabelia got clear and squared for Charity Adule to fire to the Wexford net.
Getting exposed without help was becoming a little too common place for the Youths full-backs. Gabelia got away on the left again and sent over a cross that Furlong fumbled but grasped before Chinwendu Ihezuo could pounce.
The first time Kazygurt got in through the middle came in the 31st minute when Kristina Mashkova’s mis-hit shot squirmed through to Gabelia. It looked like the net was going to bulge for a third time but Tamara Furlong made an excellent save.
Noticeably, as the half wore on the visitors were no longer taking advantage on the wings. A few long-range shots flew over while Alina Litvinenko cracked a 35-yard shot off the hosts’ crossbar.
The third goal was painful for Wexford. A glided Litvinenko shot, from a nothing position on the left edge of the box, beat Furlong’s wafting arm and ended up in the Youths net in the 44th minute.
Wexford went close right before the break. Aisling Frawley was fouled on the left. Hansberry sent a free-kick into the box that Zheleznyak flapped at, and the ball fell to Lauren Dwyer but her shot flew just over the crossbar.
After having their fair share of the ball, without doing a whole lot with it in the first-half, things changed for Wexford in the second period. Linda Douglas fired a deep right-wing cross to the back post in the 53rd minute but neither Frawley nor Claire O’Riordan could get a telling touch.
A minute later, Youths were back in the game. Delahunty smashed a 30-yard free-kick that goalkeeper Zheleznyak couldn’t hold, and Claire O’Riordan pounced to fire the ball to the net to make it 3-1.
Kylie Murphy snapped a shot over the bar from the edge of the area in the 56th minute. Then Hansberry’s corner eventually found its way to Maria Delahunty in the box.
With her back to goal, she connected too well with her overhead kick that whistled straight at the ‘keeper.
Wexford were buzzing, pressing forward, looking for a vital second goal. Maria Delahunty crossed from the right and Linda Douglas controlled but her shot was scuffed and meandered weakly at Oksana Zheleznyak.
On a rare foray in the Youths box, Furlong made a smart save from Chinwendu Ihezuo’s header. Hansberry’s dead-ball saw Zheleznayak fumble again in the 72nd minute, and Wexford forced the ball in but the whistle was blown for a foul on the Kazakh stopper.
There were plenty of Wexford complaints but any touch at all on the goalkeeper is going to be called by a European referee, even if it was exaggerated and didn’t cause the fumble. All in all French referee Florence Guillemin had a strong game.
She blew for a free to Wexford, 35 yards from goal, one minute later. Delahunty drilled it into the wall, and the ball rebounded back to Hansberry who forced Zheleznyak to tip her rasping drive over the crossbar.
Amy Walsh, who impressed at left-back, coming on for the injured Orlaith Conlon, found Douglas with a long crossfield ball. The Wexford winger hit her shot well, but it flew at Zheleznyak and she easily held on.
Gabelia rounded Furlong but Lauren Dwyer got back to clear off the line as Wexford tired late on. Youths failed to go close in the last ten minutes as Kazygurt hung on to claim a vital three points in the race to the knockout stages.
Wexford Youths: Tamara Furlong; Nicola Sinnott, Jessica Gleeson, Lauren Dwyer, Orlaith Conlon; Linda Douglas, Kylie Murphy (capt.), Emma Hansberry, Aisling Frawley; Maria Delahunty; Claire O’Riordan. Subs. - Amy Walsh for Conlon, inj. (40), also Sophie Lenehan, Becky Cassin, Aoibhín Webb, Rachel Hutchinson, Chelsee Snell, Orla Casey.
BIIK Kazygurt: Oksana Zheleznyak; Darya Kravets, Kristina Mashkova, Yekaterina Krasyukova, Yulia Myasnikova; Chinyelu Bessum Asher, Annette Jacky Messomo; Charity Adule, Chinwendu Veronica Ihezuo, Alina Litvinenko; Gulnara Gabelia. Subs. - Yekaterina Babshuk for Kravets (82), Josephine Ngandi Ngandi for Kyasyukova (90+3), also Madina Shoikina, Adilya Vyldanova, Saule Karibayeva, Svetlana Bortnikova, Ksenia Khalrulina.
Referee: Florence Guillemin (France).
Claire O’Riordan of Wexford Youths WFC in action against Kristina Mashkova