Bohemians manager Alan Reynolds said their UEFA Conference League third-round qualifying loss to FC Midtjylland boiled down to a clinical edge and a disparity in quality, despite a strong performance from his side.
Goals in either half courtesy of Franculino and Valdemar Byskov Andreasen gave the Danish outfit a 2-0 lead to take back to their home leg, where a place in the play-off round looks to be calling them.
For the Dublin club it might prove to be a case of ‘what if’. They were punished for two momentary lapses leading to the goals, and had a penalty overruled by VAR.
Ultimately for Reynolds however, the gulf in quality was the difference on the night.
“I think they brought on a fella wide right that they’re looking to sell for 15 or 20 million and if he’s not starting on their team… there’s levels. But we equipped ourselves really well with some really, really strong performances,” Reynolds told RTÉ Sport.
“I think we grew into it. Then obviously, Senan (Mullen) got a bang on the head and had to go off for a minute. They smelled blood and capitalised on it.
“But I thought we just responded really well. I always felt that you’ve got to be clinical. When you get a couple of chances here, you’ve got to take them and you know, I thought we could have scored a header and another one.
“So delighted, pleased with the attitude, the ambition, the game plan, all that was really good. Just disappointed with the goals conceded.”
Bohemians manager Alan Reynolds salutes the crowd after the game
If Bohemians are to progress to the next round, they will need to pull off a major upset, and record their first win on the road in Europe so far in this campaign. But Reynolds is not ready to give up hope just yet, knowing exactly what a plucky underdog can do if they can rattle the cages of the great Danes.
“It will be tough. But wouldn’t it be interesting if we got the first goal in the game? You know, that’s probably the aim,” Reynolds said.
“Look, we have to deal with Waterford (in the league) first of all but there wasn’t loads wrong with us. Obviously a bit of quality, bit of magic from them but if we can nick a goal we will see.”
He also added, “we knew that the way they played that you could exploit them. They leave man for man and you could cause some problems.
“We knew that we could create chances and that just as I said, you’ve got to take them at this level.”
“Just pick your moments of when to go and I thought there was a spell in the second half when we were really on top and the penalty kind of takes the sting out of it.
“I felt after that dropped off. But no, look, they gave everything.”
An early goal and an upset would of course be huge for the Bohemians faithful, who earned praise from the manager.
“If you look at the fans here tonight at the end and how they see the effort lads gave. I thought the fans were outstanding at the end,” he added.
“I said to the players after that this is where we want to be next year, but we have to take care of Sunday that’s the thing.
“There’s a lot of positives but it’s just that first goal disappointed us because we were down to ten.”