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Shels settle in Bucharest

Shels talismanic captain Owen Heary

Squad trains in late evening in warm weather. - by Fintan Cassidy

Shelbourne arrived in Bucharest late on Sunday evening and are well settled in now as they continue to prepare for Wednesday’s big Champions League second round second leg decider against Steaua Bucharest. The Shels squad trained on Monday evening with no problems reported.

Speaking to ShelsWeb from the team hotel in Bucharest, captain Owen Heary explained: “Over the past few seasons in Europe we’ve found it best to travel out a few days before the match to give us time to get over the journey and to acclimatise. It was close to midnight when we checked in to our hotel last night but we had all today to rest and then we trained this evening. It was still quite hot then , around 33 degrees C, I believe, but it did cool down as it got later.We’ll train in the Ghencea Stadium tomorrow where the match will be played, again at the same time as the match kick-off.”

The Shels squad arrived too late to see the Romanian Supercup Final, in which Steaua lost 3-2 to their to arch rivals, Dinamo Bucharest. Owen said: “Although we didn’t see it ourselves, some of our staff traveled out on Saturday and took in the match yesterday. Mick Neville has compiled a full report and we’ll sit down at our team meeting tomorrow, watch the video and discuss our shape and tactics for Wednesday night. I believe Steaua conceded a couple of soft goals to lose the match and we heard that it didn’t go down to well with them or their supporters, so that’s quite encouraging for us.”

Wednesday’s Weather Forecast for Bucharest: Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. Temperature high near 30C. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.