One thing certainly emerged in common on Thursday night after Valletta FC secured another positive 1-1 draw in Dublin against St Patrick’s Athletics FC at Richmond Park.

That result definitely puts local side Valletta in pole position to advance at the expense of the Irish side when the second leg of this second qualifying round tie is played at Ta’ Qali next Thursday.

The 1-1 drawn result also means that Valletta FC are on the verge of making history in the European club competitions, in so far as Maltese clubs are concerned. In fact, if Valletta qualify, it will be the first time in the history of Maltese football that a local club would have survived two qualifying rounds.

In Ireland, the official website of the club, as well as most of the Irish press, if not all, have conceded that it will now be an uphill task for the Irish side to advance to the next round.

I have taken a look at only a few of the reports and here is, in brief, what they commented about the match.

Writing in the Independent.ie, under the heading ‘O’Brien on target but Pat’s face uphill task’, Daniel McDonnell said it was a disappointing result for St Patrick’s Athletic, but “at the same time enough anecdotal evidence to believe their Europa League hopes did not evaporate at Richmond Park.”

He admitted that the team (St Patrick) was still good enough to travel next week with the hope that they can progress to the third qualifying round stage.

He wrote: “Considering their indifferent league form this term and a proliferation of injuries, it was hard to be too confident about the Saints ahead of this encounter against a side who impressed with a 5-2 aggregate win against Icelandic opposition in the previous round, but Jeff Kenna’s men sprung out of the blocks with purpose.”

He then went on to say that Valletta appeared to have had the intention of containing their opponents with Jordi Cruyff bizarrely deployed as a sweeper.

He also wrote that the home side received a warm ovation at the interval – something of a rarity this term – “but after the resumption, they endured a worrying 15 minutes as the Maltese grew in confidence, with a few vain penalty claims sandwiched between sustained periods of possession.”

He concluded his report on the match saying: “This one could go either way.”

In its report of the match, the Irishtimes.com, under the title ‘Kenna’s men let the initiative slip away’, said that St Patrick’s had obtained a score draw but are now left with what promises to be a tough away match after failing to win on home soil.

It said Declan O’Brien’s 38th minute goal should have provided the platform for a bigger win. However, they allowed Valletta back in the game in the second half. It said: “After conceding a soft equaliser, they came close to losing late on as they did to salvaging the victory they pushed for through the last quarter of an hour.”

It also said that Jeff Kenna’s men will have to slow down a bit next week due to the heat in Malta.

Commenting on Valletta, the report said: “Jordi Cruyff, playing between the visiting side’s two centre halves as a sweeper, looked to direct the visitors’ attacking moves with a series of long passes to wide positions. From midfield, though, Gilbert Agius posed more of a threat with low balls forward that repeatedly eluded attempts by the defenders to cut them out.”

The report ended as follows: “While both sides had some cause to question the performance of the Latvian referee, the Dutchman (Valletta coach Caanen) clearly had greater cause for satisfaction with the result than his counterpart who needs a major improvement from his players next Thursday if an already bad season is not to get a good deal worse.”

However, at the end of the match, both managers agreed that the result is still open and while Caanen said he was looking forward towards qualification, Kenna also said he was confident his men would score in the return leg.

The match report on the official website of the club, stpatsfc.com, said that “St Patrick’s dominated for large periods of this Europa League match, but conceded an away goal and must now score against Valletta in Malta to advance.”

The report also made a mention of the fact that Valletta included in their line-up one-time Shamrock Rovers player Luke Dimech as well as former Man United and Barcelona star Jordi Cruyff.

It also gave credit to Valletta who, after conceding a first half goal, “came out fighting for the second half as they went in search of a vital away goal. There was a good deal of grit and determination about them but they were kept at bay by a strong Pat’s defence and midfield.”