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Shelbourne have goalkeeper to thank as Ajax register THIRTY attempts but can't kill off Conference League tie Shelbourne and Ajax will meet again next Thursday at Tolka Park. AJAX 3 (Godts pen 6, Wijndal 22, Dolberg 50) SHELBOURNE 1 (Kelly 84) Ajax will be wondering how they are just two goals up heading to Tolka Park next week. But thanks to a heroic performance at one end by goalkeeper Eddie Beach and a moment to remember at the other by Dan Kelly, Shelbourne are - on paper at least - still in this one. Only their most optimistic supporters will back them to overturn the two-goal deficit in next Thursday’s second leg against the Dutch giants. But they left the Johan Cruyff Arena last night with heads held high having weathered a serious storm. Ajax ended the night with an incredible 30 attempts on goal compared to three for their visitors - an average of one every three minutes - and for long periods they had Shels chasing shadows. Straight from kick-off the signs were ominous as the hosts put together a 13-pass move that ended with a blocked Oscar Gloukh effort. Then we were treated to the Mika Godts-Owen Wijndal show, as the pair toyed with Shelbourne down the Ajax left flank. Wijndal’s overlapping runs were picked out time and again by Godts, as Milan Mbeng and Sean Moore struggled to keep tabs on their movement. But the breakthrough came when Godts ignored his teammate and instead cut inside Moore, touched the ball past Mbeng’s outstretched leg and tumbled under the French defender’s challenge. Turkish referee Atilla Karaoglan initially waved away Godts’ appeal and play continued, but eventually he got word from VAR that he should head to his monitor. Karaoglan had a few looks at the challenge, returned to the pitch and pointed to the spot. Godts rolled his penalty straight down the middle as Beach dived to his right, to hand Shelbourne the start they dreaded. Manager John Russell, unsurprisingly, went with a conservative starting 11 and without a recognised striker, with Daniel Kelly their most advanced player. His first touch came with 18 minutes and 55 seconds on the clock, and he lost the ball straight away as, with no support around him, he turned down a blind alley. That’s no slight on the Shels attacker, as it took his teammates that long to get the ball anywhere near him. Russell kept the returning Mipo Odubeko, Portuguese striker Rodrigo Freitas and teenager Dan Ring on the bench, along with fellow attack-minded players Ali Coote and Will Jarvis. Ajax didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation to attack and by half-time they had registered 12 attempts on goal to zero for the visitors. It was as one-sided a game as that stat suggested, with Ajax stroking the ball around, waiting for gaps to appear in Shelbourne’s heavily-manned defence. Mbeng’s reckless challenge for the penalty aside, the Dubliners kept their discipline reasonably well considering the pressure they were under. Kerr McInroy did well to block a Youri Regeer shot and Sam Bone produced a wonderful challenge as Wijndal was about to pull the trigger. But any lapse was ruthlessly punished, as was the case on 22 minutes when Wijndal doubled the hosts’ advantage. He ran between Mbeng and Moore, chested down Steven Berghuis’s cross and drilled the ball into the roof of the net from eight yards on the half-volley. Berghuis could have had a hat-trick - at least - but somehow ended his evening without his name on the scoreboard. Shortly before his departure, just after the hour, the Netherlands international engaged in a personal battle with Shels goalkeeper Beach. Having had a few earlier efforts drift narrowly wide, he looked certain to score when he raced onto a low Godts centre, only for Beach to make an outstanding save. A few minutes later, and with his last touch before his withdrawal, Berghuis let fly from 20 yards and Beach went full-stretch to tip the ball over the bar. This came during an outstanding spell for the Shels netminder, including a penalty save. Referee Karaoglas spotted a Paddy Barrett handball and up stepped Godts again. This time he went to Beach’s left, but so did the keeper and he reached his right hand up to push the ball away. Ajax were 3-0 up at this stage, with Kasper Dolberg sliding in on 50 minutes behind Barrett to send a low Berghuis cross past Beach at his near post. So had Beach not come to the rescue with his penalty save seven minutes later, who knows how bad things could have been for the Reds. Even as they rang in the changes, Ajax continued to create chances, with the best of them falling to Marcos Leonardo when he raced onto a Julian Brandt pass and dragged his shot wide. Then came the moment Shelbourne fans longed to see, as Ali Coote, just four minutes after his arrival from the bench, made a huge impact. He controlled a long pass forward, poked the ball through Aaron Bouwman’s legs and drilled in a shot that goalkeeper Maarten Paes could only parry. As it fell to Kelly on the edge of the area, he calmly slotted the ball inside the right-hand post, to the delight of the 600 travelling supporters. Ajax: Maarten Paes; Anton Gaaei, Aaron Bouwman, Daley Blind, Owen Wijndal; Davy Klaassen (Marcos Leonardo 58), Oscar Gloukh (Jorthy Mokio 58), Youri Regeer; Steven Berghuis (Oliver Edvardsen 64), Kasper Dolberg (Julian Brandt 64), Mika Godts (Maher Carrizo 77). Shelbourne: Eddie Beach; Milan Mbeng, Sam Bone (James Roche 90), Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge, James Norris (Sean Gannon 90); Sean Moore (Rodrigo Freitas 73), Jack Henry-Francis (Ali Coote 80), Evan Caffrey, Kerr McInroy (Odhran Casey 80); Daniel Kelly. Referee: Attila Karaoglan (Turkey)