'Not good enough at this level' - Bradley slams officials after offside goal allowed in Molde defeat

"Not good enough at this level." That was the verdict of Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley following his side's 2-0 defeat to Molde at Tallaght Stadium.

Bradley was not talking about his players, but rather the match officials, who failed to spot a blatant offside in the opening goal that arrived against the run of play.

"Two or three yards offside, for four seconds," was Bradley’s assessment of the first Molde goal that was finished by striker David Fofana, who guided a close-range header beyond the reach of Alan Mannus in the 33rd minute.

The defeat ended Rovers’ chances of progressing to the knock-out phase of the Europa Conference League, and the manager was clearly frustrated as a result of the first-half goal that made his team's task an uphill one heading into the second half.

Rovers maintained their attacking approach in search of an equaliser after the break but were undone by a mistake of their own doing in the 69th minute when Kristian Eriksen headed home a near-post effort to seal the victory.

"It’s a hard one to take," said Bradley, speaking at the post match press conference.

"I thought we were very good tonight, but I thought the non-decision from the linesman was really, really poor. It’s not even tight.

"How the referee or the linesman has not seen it at this level is really poor, because we started well and had the momentum and that knocked us back a bit. It was a terrible decision."

There was no VAR available for the European encounter, and while it would have certainly helped Rovers if it was up and running, Bradley maintained that the offside was so obvious that it shouldn’t have even been an issue.

The defeat makes it three in a row for the Hoops who only have one point from their four group games, and