| Europa first qualifying round |
Sligo Rovers lost their home leg of Europa first qualifying round to Albania's Vllnazia Shkoder on Thursday night. The Bit O'Red were favourites for this tie and were hoping to progress for the glamour next round game against Rapid Vienna.
Sligo can count themselves very unlucky they hit the bar and post three times with the unluckiest being Alan Keane's 82nd minute penalty. They did get out of jail when Vllnazia goalkeeper Armir Grimaj got a red card after pushing Richie Ryan in the 88th minute. Raffael Cretaro's scored from the spot to keep the tie alive for Rovers.
Dritan Smajlaj's scored a fantastic 67th minute strike past helpless goalkeeper Richard Brush and a Keane own goal put the host 2-0 up.
Vllnazia look to have the tie sown up as two away goals looks like a hopeless case for Sligo in two weeks time.
Sligo Rovers: Brush, Keane, Feeney (Noctor, 64), Ventre, Holmes, Cash (Doherty, 73), O'Grady, Ryan, Morrison, Boco, Cretaro.
Vllnazia Shkoder: Grimaj, Osja, Beqiri, Mivajevic, Hallagi, Smajlaj, Nalbani, Shtubina, Kasapi (Bishani, 89), Sinani (Balaj, 85).
Referee: C. Virant (Belgium).
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