COULD have been worse, should have been better.

Vinny Perth’s Dundalk side came from behind twice to draw in Tallaght, but they may regret a scoreless second half where they failed to turn sustained pressure and a stack of set-pieces into an advantage to bring to Estonia next week.

They may live to regret it after another up-and-down day in a bizarre campaign.

Dundalk’s inability to organise themselves in time to sell out the game in Tallaght provided fresh visual representation of how the behind-the-scenes operation at the club has been stretched by key departures.

A large portion of fans only found out on the day of the game that there were actually tickets available for a match that required a 180km round trip, and there were other glitches in the ticketing system, a shame given the entertainment value that was delivered, particularly in the opening 45 minutes.

The loss of Michael Duffy after Covid tests before the game robbed Dundalk of a key player and forced a reshuffle in midfield that contributed to a frenzied beginning.

Perth switched to what looked like a flexible diamond shape with Wilfried Zahibo, the Central African Republic international, brought in to replace Duffy but taking up Chris Shields’ old role as the deepest-lying option.

He was slow to cover ground, however, and the Dundalk fans who haven’t been able to vent with games behind closed doors found their voice to let Zahibo know what they thought of a ponderous contribution.

At times, he was left isolated, especially in the run-up to Levadia’s second, but with Dundalk’s owners now cutting costs, they need more from an individual who is understood to be the highest-paid player in the club’s history.

General sluggishness from Dundalk twice cost them; a break from midfield from Bogdan Vastsuk put the Estonian league leaders ahead with 66 seconds on the clock.

Seventy-three seconds later, the hosts were level with Will Patching steering Daniel Kelly’s pass home.

There were similarities between those strikes and the goals that followed; Vastsuk again ghosted into space to clip the ball over Alessio Abibi in the 19th minute.

Eight minutes later Dundalk got joy down the right side with Raivis Jurkovsis and Patching combining to set up Dave McMillan for his 13th goal in European competition.

Perth’s decision to replace Zahibo before the hour mark was greeted by cheers and Greg Sloggett helped to drive the Lilywhites on but Levadia were able to defend the dead balls created by fouls or clearances and actually finished quite strongly.

They will fancy their chances of progression.

Dundalk – Abibi, Jurkovskis, Boyle, Nattestad, Leahy; Zahibo (Sloggett 58); McEleney, Patching, Stanton (Murray 75); Kelly, McMillan (Midstkogen 86).

Levadia – Vallner, Antonov (Elhi 56), Ugge, Podholjuzin, Ilic (Peetson 45); Lepistu; Liivak (Oigus 79), Putincani, Vastsuk, Agyiri (Roosnupp 66); Beglarishvili (Kirss 66).

REF – Adrien Jaccottet (Switzerland).