Soccer-Partizan coach Milinkovic urges support for misfiring Bojinov

BELGRADE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Partizan Belgrade coach Zoran Milinkovic has asked the club's fans to support misfiring striker Valeri Bojinov ahead of their Champions League playoff return leg against BATE Borisov. "I understand the public is entitled to criticise players but they should not be dragged through the mud," Milinkovic told Belgrade media on Friday. "Bojinov is going through a rough patch and it's now down to his character to take the hits. He has to work hard in order to prove his worth on the pitch." Message boards were full of ugly comments about the Bulgarian's tepid performance after Partizan's 1-0 first-leg defeat at Belarussians BATE on Tuesday. The 29-year old journeyman, who had spells with the likes of Manchester City and Juventus, has scored four goals in as many league games for Partizan but flattered to deceive in Champions League qualifiers. He looked toothless and bereft of pace in all five games in the preliminary rounds of Europe's premier club competition and also missed a penalty in a 5-3 aggregate win over 1986 European Cup winners Steaua Bucharest. Winger Andrija Zivkovic, who shone against the Romanians and drew the attention of several big European clubs, was confident Partizan could overturn the deficit at home on Wednesday. "Scoring two and conceding none should not be a tall order in front of our fans and I firmly believe we can qualify for the group stage," said Zivkovic, who helped Serbia to the under-20 World Cup title in New Zealand in June. (Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)