Wexford Youths Women's AFC will look to clinch qualification for the knockout phase of the UEFA Women's Champions League when they go head to head with host club Medyk Konin in their second qualifying round group in Poland this evening at 5pm
The Continental Tyres Women's National League holders secured an impressive 1-0 win over top seeds Gintra Universitetas of Lithuania on Tuesday while Medyk Konin beat Cardiff Met 5-0 in their opener.
Should Will Doyle's side record a victory over the hosts in this fixture they will qualify for the next stage should the result of Gintra and Cardiff Met go in their favour.
Doyle watched the Poles in action on Tuesday after his own side's victory so knows the challenge ahead of his troops - particularly given the soaring temperatures in Konin.
“It’ll be a massive game. We watched about 60 minutes of the against Cardiff Met and they looked a decent side. They are well-organised and scored five goals which speaks for itself," he said yesterday.
"They are confident they'll win the group because they think we’ve done them a favour. They have home advantage but we’ve brought a lot of fans over and the support we’ve had has really impressed everybody.
“They are very well-coached team, with good athletes and physical edge to them too but I am still hopeful we can get a result."
After his side showed great resolve to carve out a victory in their opener in testing conditions, Doyle feels they have enough in their armoury to surprise Medyk Konin.
“Cardiff played a very high defensive line and with the pace that the Polish side had in their ranks they basically took advantage to score the same type of goal four times. If that happened to us I feel we’d react and deal with it," he added.
“The heat was very testing in our game and it obviously takes its toll on the players so we've taken things lightly today and will see how the players are before tomorrow's game.
“The Polish side are very similar to us so it we’ll try to match up with them all over the pitch and then it’ll come down to winning individual battles."
Yesterday's goal from @jessgleeson4 #ShowYourSupport @SoccRepublic @sueronan @ExtratimeNews @RTEsport @SERSport pic.twitter.com/AqlYwj7B1D
— Wexford Youths Women (@YouthsWomen) August 12, 2015
FIXTURES
UEFA Women’s Champions League, Qualifying Round, Group 7
Tuesday, August 11
Gintra Universitetas 0-1 Wexford Youths, Kleczew, Poland
Thursday, August 13
Wexford Youths v Medyk Konin, Konin, Poland, KO 5pm
Sunday, August 16
Cardiff Met v Wexford Youths, Kleczew, Poland, KO 4pm.
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