On the 10th of July, 1999 our maiden only ever European adventure to date came to an end after a very credible 1-0 victory over Bundeliga outfit MSV Duisburg at the Showgrounds - the efficient Germans progressing to the third round of the Intertoto Cup with a 2-1 aggregate win having won the first leg 2-0 a week earlier.
We started the game well and after a few half chances we took the lead on 28 minutes. Mark Rutherford got his head on a John Drake cross and in an attempt to clear the ball Duisburg midfielder Martin Schneider diverted the ball into his own net. The goal officially given as an own goal but Rutherford taking all the plaudits from the Newry faithful.
After that 'Die Zebras' (The Zebras) as Duisburg are known, grew into the game and took control, often frustrating the home side with long spells of possesion and limiting us to very few chances whilst coming close a few times themselves.
That frustration led to a lot of niggly fouls and Russian referee Serguei Sossen handed out seven yellow cards. Newry star striker Dessie Gorman perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after an altercation with Tomasz Hajto who went down holding his face.
Gorman was substituted shortly afterwards with the fear of him overstepping the mark again. He was replaced by 20 year old Adrian Larkin who was the winning goalscoring hero of the 1st Round tie against Hrvatski Dragovajic, but
there was to be no repeat of those heroics as Duisburg held
on to complete the aggregate win.
Newry Town: Kevin McKeown, John Drake, Tony Scappaticci, Alan Hall, Stuart McLean, Shane Reddish, John Kenny, Barry Tumilty, Robert Casey, Dessie Gorman (Adrian Larkin 78'), Mark Rutherford.
MSV Duisburg: Gintras Stauce, Dietmar Hirsch, Torsten Wohlert, Tomasz Hajto, Marijan Kovacevic, Markus Beierle, Martin Schneider, Michael Zeyer (Thomas Hoersen 89'), Stefan Emmerling, Carsten Wolters (Andreas Voss 87'), Alexander Bugera (Ralf Keidel 65').
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