TNS bow out of Champions League after defeat
Domestic
18 July 2017

TNS bow out of Champions League after defeat

The New Saints 1-5 HNK Rijeka (1-7 on aggregate)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 

  • Second Qualifying Round second leg
  • Tuesday, 18 July 2017
  • Park Hall

The New Saints bowed out of the UEFA Champions League at the second qualifying round stage after a 7-1 aggregate defeat to HNK Rijeka.

Holding a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Croatia, Rijeka dominated possession in the early stages and both sides traded half chances as Alexander Gorgon’s shot was deflected wide for the visitors while Aeron Edwards skewed an effort off target at the other end.

However, midway through the first half there was controversy as Steve Saunders was caught in the box by a high boot but referee Georgi Kabakov deemed it to be infringement without contact, with Scott Quigley’s resulting free kick being blocked.

But on the stroke of half-time the visitors broke the deadlock and netted an all-important away goal as Florentin Matei played a neat one-two with Heber dos Santos before coolly slotting past Paul Harrison in the Saints goal.

Despite no changes from either side at the break, the Croatian champions flew out of the traps at the second of the second half with three goals in the space of ten minutes.

After coming off the bench, Mario Gavranovic made it 2-0 on the night on 54 minutes before further strikes from Gorgon and Stefan Ristovski made it 4-0 to Rijeka.

However, the home side were rewarded for their efforts with a fine goal of the own as Adrian Cieselwicz came off the bench to curl home an effort from the left edge of the box.

But the Croatians weren’t finished and a late goal from Gavranovic – his second of the night – sealed a 5-1 win for the visitors on the night and a 7-1 aggregate victory.

 

THE NEW SAINTS: Harrison, Spender, Saunders, Rawlinson, Routledge, Brobbel, Fletcher (Cieslewicz, 57), Mullan, Quigley (Draper, 62), Edwards (Holland, 65), Pryce.

 

HNK RIJEKA: Sluga, Ristovski, Zuta, dos Santos (Dokovic, 62), Matei, Zuparic, Elez, Gorgon (Crnic, 68), Misic, Bradaric, Vesovic (Gavranovic, 50).