Tbilisi shine at Shamkir
Thursday, 29 July 2004
By Erkin Ibragimov at the Shamkir stadium
[1] FC Tbilisi thrived in FK Shamkir's new home, as they built on their 1-0 first-leg victory to progress comfortably to the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.
Narrow deficit
[2] In front of 10,000 fans, Shamkir were hopeful of overturning their deficit from a fortnight ago, but they could not cope with the Georgian side's counterattacking style and the aggregate lead was doubled on 26 minutes when Shamkir's defence stood still allowing Georgi Chelidze, the goalscorer in the first leg, to stroke the ball into the net.
Double blow
[3] The home team's task became all the more difficult five minutes before half-time when Tbilisi launched a break that culminated in Akaki Mikuchadze heading in. In the second period, Tbilisi were content to sit back as their compact defence repelled wave after wave of Shamkir attacks, while continuing to pose a threat on the break.
Consolation goal
[4] Pasha Aliyev and Vusal Huseynov both missed excellent chances for the Azerbaijan outfit, before Mikuchadze struck an unstoppable curling effort from outside the penalty box 12 minutes from time to seal the win. Substitute Givi Kvaratskhelia then made it 4-0, but although Shamkir were out, Aliyev scored a consolation, his club's first goal in this competition in their fourth match.
'Too little time'
[5] Shamkir coach Garhaman Aliyev was left to rue his team's lack of cohesion. "We have lost eight players since last season and unfortunately our newcomers had too little time to adapt," he said. "I would like to congratulate Tbilisi and wish them the best of luck in the next round."