The midfielder fired Rijeka ahead six minutes into the second-half with a left-footed finish from close range.<\/p>\n
Up to that point, the Candystripes had restricted Rijeka to long-range efforts, with neither goalkeeper troubled in the opening half.<\/p>\n
Michael Duffy had the best of the first-half goalscoring opportunities when the ball dropped to Brandon Fleming, who clipped it towards the back post where Duffy ran into the box and turned past Portuguese midfielder Tiago Dantas but his shot was deflected agonisingly past the far post.<\/p>\n
Fresh from his return from the World Cup, Fruk came to the party with his expertly taken finish on 51 minutes.<\/p>\n
New signing Brooklyn Lyons-Foster cleared Daniel Adu-Adjei\u2019s shot off the line before Brian Maher saved the follow-up effort from Amer Gojak.<\/p>\n
Substitute Justas Lasickas also came close to adding a second for the home side in stoppage time, but Derry will glad their hopes remain alive heading into the return leg at Brandywell next week.<\/p>\n
Although it may have been Rijeka\u2019s first competitive match of the season, they dominated possession in the opening half. With just two minutes on the click, Dantas screwed his 25-yard shot wide of the Derry goal.<\/p>\n
![\"Rijeka's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GFKPPXILAZGXBMPPOPS7M4J2VI.jpg\")
Rijeka’s Branko Pavi\u0107 is tackled by Derry’s Ellis Chapman. Photograph: Aleksandar Djorovic\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Going from distance, on 24 minutes Branko Pavi\u0107 reacted quickest to Barry Cotter\u2019s defensive clearance but his shot on the volley went well wide of the target.<\/p>\n
Rijeka needed just six minutes to break the deadlock after the restart. Dantas\u2019 slick pass was directed into the path of Fruk by the outstretched leg of Patrick McClean and the Croatian international fired clinically past Maher to give the home side the lead.<\/p>\n
It could have got worse for Tiernan Lynch\u2019s side when, seven minutes later, Dantas played in Adu-Adjei, but Lyons-Foster brilliantly cleared his 10-yard shot off the line. The rebound fell to Gojak and his strike was turned behind by Maher for a corner.<\/p>\n
Substitute Adam O\u2019Reilly had an instant impact on his introduction, making a lung-bursting run from inside his own half during a promising Derry counterattack on 74 minutes. His dangerous cross towards Duffy at the back was superbly cut out by Fruk at full stretch.<\/p>\n
Despite a spirited finish, Derry were fortunate not to concede again when Justas Lasickas\u2019 effort from a corner kick in stoppage time went narrowly wide of the back post.<\/p>\n
The final whistle blew, bringing relief for Derry, their European fate not yet sealed.<\/p>\n
DERRY CITY: <\/b>Maher; Lyons-Foster (Barr 75), P McClean, Stott (Dummigan 62), Fleming; Cotter, Olayinka (Burns 80), Twisk (O\u2019Reilly 62), Duffy; Chapman; Boyce (Clarke 62).<\/p>\n
RIJEKA: <\/b>Todorovi\u0107; Jan vi\u0107, Majstoro \u0107, Barco, Pavi\u0107, Fruk, Gojak (Rukavina 79), Adu-Adjei (Juri\u0107 69), Ore\u010d, Dantas, Devetak.<\/p>\n
Referee: <\/b>JL Munuera (Spain).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uefa Conference League: Rijeka 1 (Fruk 52) Derry City 0 Classy Croatian international Toni Fruk handed HNK Rijeka…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[28978,18,12237,19,17,132],"class_list":["post-601530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-derry-city","tag-eire","tag-europa-conference-league","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116973459621868617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}