Vinny Perth saw Dundalk finish like a train and roared: ‘It’s full steam ahead’
The Lilywhites went behind to a fourth-minute Qarabag goal and were off the pace throughout the opening half.
But they ignited their Champions League hopes against the European group stage regulars with a barnstorming fightback.
Skipper Pat Hoban equalised with 13 minutes to go and Jamie McGrath, Dane Massey and Michael Duffy all had chances to win it at the death.
"It's game on although we’re going to have to be disciplined,” said Perth. “Again, we may have very little of the ball over there.
"Ultimately we’re still in the tie and that's all we could have asked for. But we’re going to have to work on keeping our shape.
“The lads will be fairly confident that they can score a goal and one big goal could change the tie."
But it was a horror start as Dundalk defender Sean Hoare conceded a needless corner from all of 40-yards and Qarabag scored from it.
Perth said: “We spoke about concentration and the ball should be cleared on the halfway line but we give away a corner. That’s not good enough.
“But to be fair to the players picked it up in the second half. They had a little bit more belief and ironically we’re disappointed not to win the game. We had enough chances.”
But Perth is hugely encouraged going to Baku on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg.
“We felt we could create chances tonight,” he continued: “We said before the game that there would be times they keep the ball and we have to be disciplined and strong.
“We had to ride our luck to a certain extent and that is the way it panned out. But at the same time we should have shown a little bit more qualify at certain times.
“We should have shown a bit more invention in how we kept the ball. But the players were outstanding in the second-half and dug in and they’ve done themselves proud.”
But midfielder Robbie Benson is now a doubt for Saturday’s league game against St Pat’s and the second-leg in Azerbaijan.
He was forced off in the first-half and Perth said: “Robbie will have a scan in the morning. “It could just be a damaged rib or a bruised rib but we won’t know he has it.”
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
