When play got back underway, Dundalk were reduced to ten men with Stephen O’Donnell shown his second yellow card and AZ went looking for a goal which would kill the game off but Dabney Dos Santos and Luckassen both passed up great chances. However, the match was overshadowed by an injury suffered to midfielder Stijn Wuytens.
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Dutch goalscorer Wuytens has been hospitalised with concussion after he clashed with Dundalk goalkeeper Gary Rogers.
Dundalk rode their luck at either end of the first half with Alireza Jahanbakhsh hitting the post after just two minutes for AZ before the Dutch outfit had a Fred Friday goal ruled out for offside a minute before the break.
They make the trip having won all six matches since drawing 1-1 away to Legia Warsaw in the qualifying play-off round of the Champions League. A lot of people don’t take much interest in it. He put a lot of positive thoughts in my head before tonight.
“The physio here is one of my best friends, Fearghal Kerin, and Sam Rice, and they got me back early”. In Ireland, the championship team is not equal, as well in the Europa League, participated in the group is an achievement for Dundalk, which is unlikely to be able to score points in his quartet.
Kenny was proud of his players and admitted that the atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards was closer to the feeling after a win.
And with 10 men, they defended valiantly as Andy Boyle cleared off the line.
“I thought the players were extremely courageous and I can not speak highly enough of them”.
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The game finished at one a piece and Dundalk earn a valuable point in the Europa League who will be confident now of grabbing more points in their next fixture at home (Tallaght) to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Sept 29th.
