Greg . 5 days ago

Conference League qualifying: Borac and HJK in trouble as former group stage sides in trouble

Tuesday and Thursday saw the return of the UEFA Conference League.

Over six weeks after Chelsea lifted the trophy, the competition returns with first qualifying round play.

Forty-eight sides commence their journey in the UECL, with the teams coming from primarily smallern nations.

Among this group contained 10 clubs who have participated in a European group stage in the past.

With that said, it will be a long road to reaching support there.

Tuesday possessed two of the first qualifying round's first legs.

Cliftonville's Ryan Curran scored the competition's opening goal off a free kick.

Facing Gibraltar's St.

Joseph's away,The Reds led twice in the contest.

Yet, they could not grip on, as Jack Keaney's straight red card just before the shatter permitted the Saints to pile the pressure.

In the terminate, the match terminated 2-2, leaving the tie finely poised for next week's return leg at Solitude.

Among Thursday's 22 matches contained some incredible results.

Perhaps none was bigger than Borac Banja Luka's shocking 4-1 home beat to Andorran side FC Santa Coloma.

The Bosnians, who reached the last 16 of the Conference League last term, conceded thrice in 11 minutes during the first half.

 By the time Armando Leon added a fourth midway through the second period, the damage showed up to have already been done.

Fans started to leave the stadium after that, and despie Enver Kulasin's consolation a few minutes later, the result still leaves Borac in serious danger of an early elimination.

For FCSC, the victory was the largest away win by an Andorran club in European competition.

But it was not just the side from Banja Luka who struggled.

HJK, who have played group phase football in each of the last four years, were humbled 4-0 at NSI.

The game changed in the 23rd minute as Jere Kallinen received a straight red card for a dangerous foul.

From there, the Faroese outfit ran rampant, scoring twice in each half to prevail.

In total, six former group phase partcicipants lost their opening legs on Thursday: Flora Tallinn (3-0 at Valur Reykjavik), Pyunik (1-0 versus Tre Fiori), Petrocub (1-0 away to Birkirkara), and F91 Dudelange (2-0 against Atletic Club d'Escaldes) also suffered surprising defeats.

 Several last-minute goals occurred as well.

Paide's Robi Saarma converted a penalty in the 96th minute to lift his team past Magpies 3-2 away.

Aleksandar Bolevic left it late for Zeljeznicar, as his 96th minute goal ensured the Bosnians acquired a 1-1 sketch versus Koper.

The craziest result, however, came in Georgia.

Matej Simic scored twice for Torpedo Kutaisi, including a winner at the death to see them past Ordabasy 4-3.

Both clubs led throughout the 90 minutes, but the hosts came out on top in the terminate.

All of the first qualifying round ties, except for the clash between Larne and Auda (Wednesday, first leg terminated 0-0), will be decided next Thursday.

The 24 winners will progress to the second qualifying round, where 56 new teams, plus the eight losing sides from the Europa League opening round of qualifying, will join.

Pursue all of the UEFA Conference League qualifying round matches on Betopick.