Hibernian sealed a 5-1 aggregate win over Santa Coloma; Aberdeen lost 2-0 in second leg to BK Hacken but win 5-3 on aggregate; The New Saints, Bohemians, Dundalk and Linfield all through to Europa Conference League third qualifying round
Friday 30 July 2021 08:50, UK
It was a successful night for clubs from Great Britain and Ireland in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Hibernian, Aberdeen, The New Saints, Bohemians, Dundalk and Linfield all progressed to the third qualifying round, with Connah's Quay Nomads the only British or Irish club to be eliminated.
Hibs arrived in Andorra 3-0 up from the first leg at Easter Road but fell behind to Santa Coloma, before quick replies from Jamie Murphy and Daniel Mackay sealed a 2-1 win on the night and 5-1 aggregate victory.
Aberdeen became the second Scottish Premiership side through. The Dons held a healthy 5-1 lead from the first leg at Pittodrie against BK Hacken and progressed despite a 2-0 defeat in Sweden.
Will Patching's injury-time winner sent Dundalk through in dramatic fashion at Estonian league leaders Levadia Tallinn. With the tie evenly poised at 2-2 from last week's first leg at Tallaght, the Lilywhites fell behind but David McMillan equalised approaching before Patching secured their passage courtesy of a strike from the edge of the box.
League of Ireland Premier Division rivals Bohemians followed Dundalk through with a 3-0 win and 4-0 aggregate success against F91 Dudelange. Robert Cornwall and Georgie Kelly (2) scored the goals at Dalymount Park.
A goalless draw in Bosnia was enough for Linfield as they advanced passed Borac Banja Luka 4-0 on aggregate.
The New Saints recorded their biggest aggregate victory in Europe with another emphatic win over Kauno Zalgiris. Leading 5-0 from the first leg in Lithuania, Saints advanced 10-1 thanks to further goals from Danny Redmond, Louis Robles (2), Declan McManus and Danny Davies.
Connah's Quay Nomads were unable to make it a clean sweep and follow Cymru Premier rivals Saints into the next round, despite a win against Prishtina on the night. Jamie Insall (2), George Horan and Callum Morris were on the score sheet but last week's loss in Kosovo proved too much of an uphill task.
Elsewhere, there were some shock results as AEK Athens, BATE Borisov and Steaua Bucharest were all knocked out of the competition.
AEK and Steaua were both eliminated on penalties, by Velez Mostar and Shakhter Karagandy respectively, while a 4-1 win for Dinamo Batumi at BATE saw them progress 4-2 on aggregate.
