The best week of his life, was how Markus Poom described his last seven days following Shamrock Rovers 5-1 defeat to Chelsea in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday evening.
A strange sentiment, perhaps, following such a hefty defeat on the European stage, however, for Poom, this is certainly the exception after scoring the Rovers goal at the famous London venue, but more importantly, racing home to Estonia last Friday to become a new dad following the birth of his child.
The Rovers midfielder played a starring role for the Hoops last Thursday night in Tallaght Stadium when Stephen Bradley’s side made history by becoming the first Irish team to make it through to the knock-out stages of European competition, beating Bosnia side Borac 3-0.
And following a whistle-stop trip to his homeland, Poom was back in the trenches with the Dublin club and en route to west London to take on the star-studded Premier League outfit.
Scoreless after 22 minutes, Rovers gifted the hosts the opening goal via Marc Guiu, however, a magic moment followed just three minutes later for the Hoops and their strong travelling support as Poom levelled the game.
A similar situation to Rovers’ last outing in the English capital, when they famously took the lead against Tottenham, as Poom’s goal was as good as it got for the green and white faithful as the home side took control and had the game effectively wrapped up by half-time as Guiu secured the matchball, Chelsea leading 4-1 going into the second half.
The Blues could only manage one more in the second half, however, it was a procession for the Conference League’s dominant side who finished their six-game schedule with maximum points and a positive goals difference of 21.
As for the Hoops, the defeat saw Bradley’s side miss out on a top-eight finish by virtue of goal difference as they matched Cercle Brugge’s tally of 11 points.
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“It’s been the best week of my life,” said Poom (above), speaking to RTE Sport after the game.
“After the game against Borac last week, I got a call from my wife that her waters broke and she had gone into labour, so I booked my flight as quickly as I could back to Estonia and I became a dad early morning on Friday, so then I had three days to spend with them before coming back to Dublin.
“It’s been a crazy week for me, but look, if you score at Stamford Bridge, I guess it’s worth it, and I’m really happy my wife let me do this. Any other game and I would have stayed with the baby and my wife but she knew this was a once in a lifetime thing and to score and celebrate for my baby and my missus is an amazing feeling.
“Obviously the scoreline could have been better for us, we gave away cheap goals but you can learn so much from this experience and we definitely will do that.”
In the end, Rovers ranked tenth in the table after their six-game stretch and will now move into the play-off round in February, where they will take on either TSC Backa Topola or Molde, aiming to qualify for the last 16.
“It’s a target that we set out to do, I think a lot of people didn’t believe we would do this well but we achieved it and we came into this game with almost no pressure so we could enjoy it,” added Poom.
“We are really looking forward to it. You want to be in these European competitions to play against the best teams in the world and just relish it.
“It can only improve you as a player and as a team, so this can only benefit us and help us take it to the next level.”
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Rovers captain Roberto Lopes was delighted to be able to reward the travelling fans and families with a moment to remember in the game, but admitted that it was a tough night at the office playing world class opposition.
Lopes felt that the team were not at the level needed to compete, however, he remains confident that the side will be back on form by the time the knockout phase starts.
“We wanted to be more competitive in the game, we gifted two sloppy goals, but we’ll come back in the new year and hopefully create more memories for our friends, families and fans,” said Lopes.
“To respond the way we did was amazing; it was short lived but they are the moments that you long for in games like these and gave something for the fans to shout about.
“The game got away from us after that, but it’s memories and we can be proud of what we achieved so far.
“It’s the elite. You switch off or make one mistake, you get punished. And you see the players that they bring off the bench, like the Joao Felix’s of this world, but that’s where we have to strive to be.
“Tonight we weren’t there, but come February, we need to be there.”
