Marcus Stewart has revealed that when the penalty decision was given, that he didn’t know what he was going to do with it.
He was adamant he wanted it for himself, but when it came to spotting the ball he wasn’t sure how he would take it: "Normally I make my mind up straight away and I know exactly what I am going to do. But this time, when I put the ball down I still didn't have a clue what to do. I didn't actually make my mind up until well into my run-up. I was relieved to see it go in.'”
Marcus of course missed the penalty in the first leg so it took plenty of guts to take control in that situation. He joked only the other day that if a penalty was given that he’d take it: "I hope it is not in the last minute and we need it to win though!"
That goal took the scoreline to 2-0 on the night, and 3-1 on aggregate meaning that Torpedo had to score three to go through. Vitaly Shevchenko the Russian coach said after the game: "We only started to play at 2-0 when it was already too late. Those who think like losers will end up losers”.
Surely his negative team tactics hoping to spoil for a 0-0 draw consigned his team to go out in the first round. George Burley was naturally elated saying, "I am very proud. I now hope this can be a lift-off for the season. The Premier League is very hard. We are working hard to get there. We have shown some very encouraging signs and we have enough quality and belief”.
It won’t take long to see how this affects our season. Leeds United, who also went through last night, come to Portman Road on Sunday and it will be an interesting encounter.
George will have a few selection problems after that game. If Reuser is fit will he replace Clapham? What of Titus Bramble? Did Venus do enough to keep his place?
Well, assuming there are no new injury worries, it would take a brave man to change the team too much after that performance. Mark Venus played very well and gave us an added dimension from corner kicks, one of which was scored by Finidi George.
Jamie Clapham also enjoyed the night and will be a boost to his confidence. We have competition for all positions and enough variety to keep the opponents guessing. Let’s hope that the team continue to play like that by playing for each other and we can start to rise up the Premiership table.