Clancy the latest to suffer from harsh refereeing decisions against Bulgarian teams

St Patrick's Athletic manager Timmy Clancy last night joined Irish soccer legends Johnny Giles and Kevin Moran in becoming the victims of an injustice when in involved in playing against Bulgarian teams.

In 1977 Giles, then player/manager of the Republic of Ireland, had a perfectly good goal famously (or should that be infamously) disallowed against the Bulgarians in the Vasil Levski Stadium, Sofia during a European qualifier with the Boys in Green going on to lose 2-1.

Giles unleashed a shot from distance the ball arrowing into the net with Steve Heighway flagged offside even though he wasn't interfering with play.

In 1987 Kevin Moran was also harshly penalised in a qualifier for the European Championships. He was deemed to have fouled a Bulgarian inside the box with the Irish saying it was outside. The Bulgarians scored from the spot-kick and went on to win 2-1.

Losing is one thing but to lose out knowing the goal given against you knowing it should not have been allowed is something very different.

Timmy Clancy was understandably bitterly disappointed after his St Pat's side lost 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate) to CSKA Sofia in the Europa Conference League at Tallaght Stadium last night.

Clancy's team put up a spirited display against the Bulgarians creating a number of decent chances before succumbing to a late penalty scored by Ivan Turitsov.

St Pat's defender Harry Brockbank was penalised for handball in the box as he challenged CSKA player Mauricio Garcez De Jesus. However De Jesus looked to have handled the ball first.

The penalty, awarded by Romanian match official Horatiu Fesnic, came after a harsh foul had been given against a St Pat's player.

The game ended with a lot of pushing and shoving between both sets of players a St Pat's players reacted to what was perceived as provocative celebrations by at least one CSKA player.

The 1977 game between Ireland and Bulgaria also involved a mass brawl.

“And then a strange decision to give a free kick in front of the dugout and then looking back at the penalty decision, it hits their player’s hand first before it goes on to Harry’s hand so on that side of things over two legs with different sets of officials, I feel we certainly weren’t getting any decisions, and that’s a huge decision to make to give a free kick in front of the dugout when we’re on the attack," Clancy said after last night's game."

The Trim man can at least look back on having guided St Pat's to memorable first-round 1-0 win over CSKA Sofia in the Vasil Levski Stadium where so many Irish dreams had been previously dashed.

The manner in which his team were organised added to Clancy's reputation as a young manager who knows how to get the best out of a group of players.

* Last night wasn't very memorable either for Jamie McGrath as his Dundee Utd side lost 7-0 to AZ Alkmaar away from home (7-1 on aggregate).