St Pat's put up a fight but Besiktas too strong in Istanbul
Despite giving themselves a fighting chance of progression with first half goals from Conor Carty and Ryan McLaughlin,
St Patrick's Athletic
ultimately saw their
Uefa Conference League
campaign ending in a third qualifying round defeat to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Besiktas in Istanbul on Thursday evening.
Much improved in the second half of last week's first leg at Tallaght Stadium, Pat's enjoyed a dream start to the action at Besiktas Stadium. While a corner was initially awarded in the opening minute after Al-Amin Kazeem had delivered a dangerous cross into the area from the left-hand side, the Saints were subsequently awarded a penalty after a VAR review determined that former Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista had handled the delivery.
There was just over two minutes on the clock when Carty stepped up to the spot and he expertly broke the deadlock on the night by drilling the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Besiktas frontman Tammy Abraham had a couple of opportunities to supplement his hat-trick in Tallaght last week, but Pat's ultimately shocked their Turkish counterparts by moving into a two-goal lead on 34 minutes.
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After a Barry Baggley free-kick was kept alive inside the area, McLaughlin was on hand to lash the loose ball beyond the reach of Besiktas netminder Mert Gunok in fine style.
Conor Carty celebrates scoring a penalty for St Pat's. Photograph: Aleksandar Djorovic/Inpho
While this left the bare minimum between the teams on aggregate, Besiktas eventually responded in the 43rd minute as Demir Ege Tiknaz fired home from close-range via a heavy deflection off Saints centre-half Joe Redmond.
In a sign of how disappointed he was with his side's performance in the opening 45 minutes, Solskjaer introduced Ernest Muci and Felix Uduokhai off the Besiktas bench for the start of the second half. Yet it was one of the home team's starters who bagged the goal that took a massive sting out of the St Pat's challenge just four minutes after the restart.
Although Joseph Anang produced a fine save from Rafa Silva moments earlier, there was little the Saints custodian could do to prevent Abraham from finding the net with a neat finish for his fifth goal in just four appearances for Besiktas.
This left the Inchicore visitors staring into another three-goal aggregate deficit and in an effort to force their way back in the reckoning once again, Saints boss Stephen Kenny added Mason Melia, Simon Power and Jamie Lennon to the mix as a triple substitution on 56 minutes.
The vastly-experienced Chris Forrester also entered the fray just shy of the third-quarter mark, but it was Besiktas replacement Joao Mario was enjoyed the biggest impact as he was picked out by Jonas Svensson for a clinical strike to the Pat's net with just under 12 minutes of normal time to play.
This helped to ensure Besiktas came away with home and away victories from this tie, and once they return to Irish soil, Pat's will switch their focus to Sunday's FAI Cup third round encounter against Shelbourne at Richmond Park.
BESIKTAS:
Gunok; Svensson, Paulista, Topcu, Jurasek (Uduokhai, 46); Tiknaz, Kokcu (Joao Mario, 63); Arroyo (Muci, 46), Rafa Silva, Rashica; Abraham (Mustafa, 63).
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:
Anang; Sjoberg, McLaughlin (Grivosti, 80), Redmond, Turner; Robinson (Lennon, 56), Baggley, Kazeem; Leavy (Power, 56), Carty (Melia, 56), Mulraney (Forrester, 67).
Referee:
A Nobre (Portugal).
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