Whites' crushed by Zestafoni.

LISBURN Distillery boss Jimmy Brown said his players showed FC Zestafoni "too much respect" as he watched his side slump to a crushing 5-1 defeat in their Europa League first round tie at Mourneview Park last night (Thursday).

It was something of a trip into the unknown for Brown's men as they knew little about their opponents. They soon found out, however, that Zestafoni, who finished fourth in the Georgian Umaglesi Liga last season, are a side filled with pace and quality.

Whites boss Brown had predicted a tactical game of cat and mouse in his pre-match assessment, but that theory was quickly erased as Zestafoni took control from the start.

Distillery found themselves struggling to get a foot to the ball and when they did, they were unable to play fluent, passing football, finding themselves quickly closed down.

In truth the Whites' caused no problems for Zestafoni's keeper Mamaladze Zurab, and it was inevitable when Nicholas Gelashvili fired home the Georgian's first of the night on 10 minutes.
Shota Grigalashvili's long-range free-kick appeared bread and butter for Distillery goalkeeper Paul Murphy, but an uncharacteristic fumble resulted in Gelashvili tapping in the rebound from close range.

The keeper's misery was compounded 12 minutes later when Zestafoni doubled their lead.

Defender Philip Simpson's rash challenge from behind on Irakli Dzaria resulted in another direct free-kick from an identical position to where the first goal arrived.

This time Grigalashvili delivered a thunderous strike that missiled into the far corner of Murphy's net.

It was almost 3-0 on 28 minutes when Tornike Aphtsiauri prodded home from close range, but referee Tamas Bognar ruled the striker to be offside.

Distillery posed their first threat of the evening on 32 minutes when Stephen Shaw tested Zurab Mamaladze from a tight angle after Andy Kilmartin's long-range drive had been parried by the Zestafoni goalkeeper.

It would prove to be a false dawn for the Whites, with the Georgians bagging their third on 34 minutes.

A delightfully floated pass from Dzaria was controlled on the chest of Gelashvili who cut inside before drilling a shot past Murphy from close range.

Four minutes later Zestafoni added a fourth, with Grigalashvili bagging his second of the night with a well executed drive from the edge of the box that nestled in the bottom corner of Murphy's goal.

The Whites almost reduced the arrears four minutes after the restart when Darren Armour headed tamely wide after connecting with Kilmartin's corner.

The hosts would be made to pay three minutes later when Zestafoni extended their lead.

Grigalashvili fed Dzaria on the left, and when the striker centred Aphtsiauri was on hand to slot his shot past the despairing dive of Murphy.

Distillery did give their fans a late consolation to cheer when Gavin
Whelan – recently signed from Drogheda United – charged onto Chris Kingsberry's cross to hammer home a drive from close range three minutes from time.

It would be the last notable action of a despairing night at the office for Brown and the Whites, and now they must prepare for a daunting trip to Georgia next week.

Speaking after the match Manager Jimmy Brown said: "It is disappointing in the nature of the way we conceded early on. We tried to work in training to keep them out for as long a period as possible, thinking maybe they would be doing the same thing, but they got two set pieces there and they scored and that hurt us. Their movement and their pace and their strength and that's the difference between full and part time players."

Despite the gulf between full and part time players, Brown admitted that he was expecting more from his side. "I was still expecting to do a little bit better than we did. We gave them too much respect, I think, and consequently we stayed off instead of getting into them and pressuring the ball, we let them have the ball too much and it cost us."
Brown was, however, pleased to see his side's reaction in the second half, where they pressed harder and forced Zestafoni's keeper into making a couple of saves before Gavin Whelan got the Whites' late goal.

"I was really pleased," said Brown. "It could have been so much worse. 5-1 sounds bad enough but it could have been so much worse at that stage. At 4-0 at half time what I was saying was, 'Ok, that half is gone, can you guy's get a wee bit of respect back into this and go out and try and win this half and let's be a bit more aggressive and let's try and take the game forward a little bit more instead of sitting back', and while we didn't win it, we drew it one each.

"There are a few positives to take out of it. If we can learn from our mistakes in the first half and apply those and develop them and take them into the domestic campaign, I'd be pleased."
Brown admitted that, whilst he knew little about Zestafoni before the draw, the Georgian side surprised him.

"They surprised me in a sense that maybe I didn't think that they would be that good and I just heard that they sold a player not so long ago for a million Euro so that's the level you're playing against and the midfield player, Shota Grigalashvili, was outstanding. We've got Andrew Kilmartin and we think he's good but this guy was something else."

Looking ahead to Thursday's second round tie in Georgia, Brown stated: "We know what they can do now, I think we gave them too much respect in the first half, consequently they got more of the ball than I wanted them to have, so we'll go an have a go now because we have nothing to lose.

"The other thing too is there are quite a number of the boys who have come into the team and it takes time to get a team settled and blended so then you are coming to a play a full time team with guy's who have just arrived and haven't played together before, so it takes time.

"I'm not disapppointed; I'm disappointed with the result, but as a manager I've got to look beyond the immediate and look to the longer term and the longer term for me is the domestic campaign."

DISTILLERY: Murphy, McShane, S. Thompson, Melaugh, Kilmartin, Whelan, Armour (Kingsberry 68), G. Thompson (Corey 55), Shaw (Browne 55), Callaghan.
Subs not used: McCluskey, Atkinson.
Booked: S. Thompson (65)
ZESTAFONI: Mamaladze, Todua, Oniani, Khidesheli, Eliava, Dzaria (Benashvili 57), Daushvili, Aphtsiauri, Grigalashvili (Gorgiashvili 73), Dvali (Kvaskhvadze 87), Gelashvili.
Subs not used: Kvaskhvadze, Makaryan, Ionanidze, Chankotadze.
Referee: Tamas Bognar (Hungary)