Europa Conference League third qualifying round, first leg: Vitesse Arnhem v Dundalk (tonight, 6pm)
DUNDALK captain Andy Boyle is hoping to channel the spirit of the club’s last visit to the Netherlands in tonight’s Conference League qualifier against Arnhem.
Boyle was part of the side which took a historic point against AZ Alkmaar in a 1-1 draw in the Europa League group stage in 2016 and he believes the experience can stand to the Louth men tonight.
“There are still a lot of guys in the dressing room who experienced the last time we played a team from the Eredivisie,” the Dubliner said.
“That was an amazing night and we can draw on those kinds of experiences. We have shown that we can compete and pull off some great results and we can draw on those moments.”
Dundalk, sitting in seventh place in the League of Ireland Premier Division, defeated Welsh outfit Newtown and Estonian side Levadia Tallinn to reach this stage of the Conference League qualifiers, and Boyle is under no illusions that the clash with the team from the Dutch Eredivisie is a big step up in quality.
“Vitesse are going to be one of the strongest sides that we have faced over the last couple of years,” he added.
“We have done a lot of work on them, we know their strengths and their weaknesses. They have players all over the pitch who can hurt you, full internationals and we know what they can do. They finished fourth in the league against teams like Ajax and PSV – that speaks for itself.
“For ourselves, these are the games that we want to be involved in, we are enjoying playing at this level, against this calibre of players and we are confident we can get a result. “
