TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

And so it began...Another tough season of European football and the trials and the trials and tribulations that often go with it. Our 4 teams once again go in search of possible continental glory.

There was no UETA Cup action on Tuesday but our Champions Cup teams started on the road to European domination that evening. PND and Teabag had difficult trips to Poland and Greece but still travelled with high hopes of getting good results. Here's how they got on...

FC PROHOMA 1-3 Athletico Teabag

The LOI champions knew they were in for a difficult night against Greek side FC PROHOMA at Police HQ. However, they have a great squad and they had every confidence they could compete strongly.

To Teabag's delight, they got the perfect start with a fantastic 9th minute goal. D.Kalin picked up possessiona and played a short pass to J.Donovan. There didn't seem to be much on, but Donovan took the ball on, turned nicely and hit a blistering shot to the back of the net. It was an excellent start but Teabag weren't finished yet!

The Best from Two Shite Economies

It was still an even enough game though and the Greeks had their chances. Teabag just held out though until half time.

A huge onslaught would have been expected from Prohoma in the 2nd half but it never materialised and Tebag killed off the game after 47 minutes. Donovan again showed great skills as he set up Butler. He brilliantly played Butler in as the Greeks' marking went very slack. Butler only had to finish from close-in and he made no mistake to extend the lead to 3 goals.

The game was clearly over as a contest now and Teabag just set about playing down the clock. Prohoma did battle on and got a goal back but the damage was already done.  R. Wogan scored a lovely goal after 67 minutes following a great through ball by S. Etuhu. But it was only a consolation goal. Teabag saw the game out for a 3-1 win to get their campaign off to a flyer.

They will be disappointed though that Donovan picked up a 2nd yellow after 79 mins. but that won't take anything away from a brilliant performance and great result!

Man of the Match: Butler was in top form on the left wing. He got 2 goals and a 10 rating and was easily the best player on the night.

SFC Wejherowo 2-3 Pirate Ninja Dinosaurs United

2 top teams squared up in Poland as group 6 got underway. It is a close group ofc with 4 quality teams so both sides were fully aware that they could not lose this game at Haraburda's Arena. But if you expected a cagey opening with the teams being very defensive, you would have been very wrong.

Haraburda's Arena

The Polish must have been given a rollicking at Half time because they came out strongly after the break. They upped the tempo and created a number of chances after that. They threw everything at PND but a combination of good defending and some luck kept PND ahead. However, after 70 minutes the Polish side drew level. A swift counter-attack led to a superb cross being put in for D. Borghetti who put the ball past C. "Manager Shot My Dog" Govi.

PND would have been disappointed but they responded immediately with a 73rd minute goal. The Polish defense was extremely disorganised and Tully exploited this with a beautiful pass. This gave N. "Porthos" O'Connell a great chance and he duly headed the ball home for 2-1. Once again, the Polish side piled on the pressure but PND again held firm in defense. After the Polish missed some great chances, PND actually extended their lead. M.Slooten split the defense with a great pass after 83 minutes D. "Sinister" Scott easily headed the ball in.

Wejherowo, to their credit, never gave up and they scored again 1 minute later. H. Pulman floated in a free kick towards Z. Pasik. He powered a header past the despairing dive of C. "Manager Shot My Dog" Govi to revive their chances. PND, though, just managed to play the clock down and held on to get a brilliant opening game victory. It was a great game and PND will be very happy to start so well!

Man of the Match: Polish star MC, C. Rydzewski, created many chances for his team and ended up with an 8 rating. Played a great game and was unfortunate not to be on the winning side.