Radosavljevic snatches late winner for Sligo at Dundalk

Substitute Stefan Radosavljevic popped up with an 89th minute winner at Oriel Park as Sligo Rovers leapfrogged Dundalk into third place in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

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It looked as though the game was heading for a draw after Max Mata's opener was cancelled out by Rayhann Tulloch a minute before half-time.

However, John Russell’s side earned a deserved win when Faroese international Radosavljevic, a target for the Lilywhites under former boss Filippo Giovagnoli in 2021, weaved his way into the box to fire his first goal for Sligo a minute from the end.

The victory sees the Bit O'Red move into the top three with Dundalk dropping to sixth, as Stephen O’Donnell suffered his first back-to-back home defeats as Lilywhites boss following on from the previous week’s 4-0 defeat by Shamrock Rovers.

A warning sign of what was to come from the visitors arrived after just five minutes when Will Fitzgerald found space on the left to cross for Mata but his first-time attempt saw him kick the ball into his own face as the chance went abegging.

Mata then came to his side's rescue two minutes later at the other end when he blocked John Martin’s header on the line after he had been picked out by Connor Malley’s free-kick.

Dundalk then had another big chance on 11 minutes when O’Kane was allowed to run at the Sligo defence after Malley had nicked the ball off Frank Liivak but the teenager’s effort was touched over by Luke McNicholas.

The Bit O'Red then hit the front on 16 minutes with Fitzgerald and Mata combining once again.

This time the winger fizzed a low ball in from the left with Mata timing his run to perfection to race between the Dundalk centre halves to tap home his sixth goal of the season to date.

Hav