10-man Shamrock Rovers hold on to secure point against Gent

Shamrock Rovers held on to claim just their second European group stage point with a 1-1 draw against Gent at Tallaght Stadium.

The Europa Conference League point for Rovers also netted the recently crowned three-in-a-row SSE Airtricity League champions €166,000, although it looked for long stages like it might be considerably more than that.

But this was still an impressive result given that the Hoops had been turned over 3-0 in Belgium just six weeks ago.

Although they led for over 70 minutes of the game, they were under pressure for large swathes, particularly after Justin Ferizaj was sent off inside the last 20 minutes.

While Rory Gaffney was the hero at one end for the Hoops, scoring their first goal in the Conference League group stages this season, they also had goalkeeper Alan Mannus to thank as the former Northern Ireland international pulled off a string of top drawer saves.

With Aaron Greene, Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Gary O'Neill all ruled out through injury, Rovers made three changes to the team which had beaten St Patrick's Athletic last Friday, with Sean Kavanagh, Neil Farrugia and Dylan Watts coming into the team.

And the latter two were involved in Rovers' early opener. The attack started with a lovely pass from Watts in midfield to switch the play from left to right. Farrugia exploited the space before laying off for Richie Towell, whose deep cross was met by a Gaffney header at the back post.

The visitors were without top scorer this season Hugo Cuypers, the man who scored the opener when the sides met in Belgium last month, as he was suffering from the flu. But with hopes of progression still in their hands they dominated the remainder of the opening 45 minutes.

Brilliant defending by Roberto Lopes shortly