Sabah (0) - St Patrick's Athletic (1)

Sabah 0 - St Patrick's Athletic 1

St Patrick's Athletic are through to the Conference League play-off round after a 1-0 victory over Sabah at the Alinja Stadium in Baku in Azerbaijan, 2-0 on aggregate.

Zach Elbouzedi scored the winning goal that ensures the club will pocket €1.28m in UEFA prize money, on a night that saw Stephen Kenny celebrate his 50th game as a manager in Europe.

The Saints will now face the winner of the tie between Iberia 1999 of Georgia and Istanbul Basakehir over two legs.

St Pat's played in a literal cauldron as local temperatures were just under 30° when the game kicked off inside a 'compact ground' according to Kenny.

Sabah's familiarity led to early chances for Soufiane Chakla and Jesse Sekidika, and none of these troubled the visitors' defence.

Joseph Anang made sure the Dubliners settled into their surroundings by making a number of routine saves early on.

The Saints slowly found themselves and their cause was helped by the 26th minute dismissal of Chakla, with the Moroccan international sent off over a last-man challenge on Romal Palmer.

St Pat's finished the first half with a flourish but they were unable to test Yusif Imanov.

Sabah did win a corner before the break and an attempt from distance by Elvin Jamalov went out and out for a goal-kick.

The game restarted with Joy-Lance Mickels going for goal and Anang diverted the shot away for St Pats.

The Saints went up the pitch when they got the ball back and Jake Mulraney swung a cross into the box from the right wing. Elbouzedi nodded this in at the near post and doubled his side's aggregate lead in the 49th minute.

There was no immediate push for retaliation by the home side, who needed to score twice to force extra-time.

St Pat's made sure that never happened by buckling down cutting off any clear route to the goal. Mickels did get a shot away during this spell, and this was routinely blocked in the 62nd minute.

Sabah even brought on Namik Alaskarov, a senior Azerbaijan international with over 40 senior caps, and their struggles in the final third continued.

Stephen Kenny's men never wilted, instead they broke in the 89th minute and a Kian Leavy's shot was pushed out off the crossbar for a corner which helped take time off the clock as their supporters counted towards the full-time whistle.

The Saints will play be back in action next Thursday after a magical night as Kenny's magic once again came to the forefront.

© rte.ie

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Sabah 0 - St Patrick's Athletic 1

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