It was another difficult night for Welsh clubs in the UEFA Conference League as Caernarfon Town, Connah’s Quay Nomads and Penybont exited in the first qualifying round.
The Nomads perhaps held the most hope of going through after earning a 0-0 draw in their home leg against FC Ballkani last week, but John Disney’s side were beaten 3-2 in Kosovo in the second leg.
Nomads goalkeeper Chris Renshaw made two important saves in the first five minutes of the contest, before the Novira Cymru Premier outfit felt their opponents should have been reduced to 10 men when Gentrit Halili brought down Harry Franklin as the forward raced through on goal – but the Ballkani man was only shown a yellow card.
The opening goal came soon after on 20 minutes when Ballkani captain Edvin Kuc prodded home a cross from Abou Dosso. It remained only a narrow lead at the break thanks to another Renshaw save, as this time the goalkeeper kept out Giovanni.
However, the tie ultimately got away from the Nomads in the opening period of the second half. Giovanni finished off a neat passing move to double his side’s advantage on 49 minutes, while the Brazilian turned provider by playing through Valentin Serebe who rounded Renshaw to score just before the hour mark.
The contest may have appeared over, but Connah’s Quay pulled a goal back on 69 minutes as substitute Max Woodcock converted from the penalty spot after Dosso’s foul on the striker in the box.
Just seven minutes later, it was 3-2 when another Nomads substitute, Hussein Mehasseb, capitalised on Erlis Xhemajli’s slip to race through on goal, muscle past Halili, and fire clinically past Adnan Golubovic.
Woodcock had the best chance for the Nomads in the closing stages as he lashed a strike into the side netting, but Disney’s men could not find a third goal to complete a remarkable comeback.
Penybont were knocked out by FC Santa Coloma for the second time in four seasons as they suffered a 3-0 second leg defeat in Andorra to lose 4-0 on aggregate.
With Santa Coloma holding only a narrow advantage from the first leg, it felt like the first goal at the Estadi Nacional would be crucial. Unfortunately it went the way of the Andorrans in the 20th minute as Inigo Barrenetxea played through Pedra Munoz on the right and the striker fired into the far corner.
Bont’s task was made even harder when Ethan Cann was sent off shortly after the half hour mark for two yellow card offences in the space of six minutes – first for a late challenge on David Andrade and then for an off-the-ball incident involving Miguel Lopez.
In-between Cann’s two bookings, he had set up a Chris Venables strike that crashed against the crossbar, but ultimately that was Penybont’s best chance of the game and they struggled with 10 men.
Santa Coloma scored their second goal of the night on 58 minutes when Alex Gomez slotted home a loose ball in the box, before substitute Kun Temenuzhkov sealed victory late on by prodding in from close range.
Following a 5-0 defeat in their first leg against FCI Levadia Tallinn at The Oval, Caernarfon Town’s woes were compounded by another loss by the same scoreline in Estonia to seal a 10-0 aggregate beating.
Not content with the comfortable advantage they gained in north Wales last week, FCI Levadia led inside four minutes at the Lilleküla Stadium when Enock Otoo cut inside from the left and curled a superb effort beyond Connor Roberts.
Roberts gifted the ball to Bubacarr Tambedou who set up Wendell for the second goal of the night on 20 minutes, before Joao Pedro netted from the penalty spot soon after the half hour mark following Chris Marriott’s foul on Wendell in the area.
The Cofis kept FCI Levadia at bay for the next 37 minutes – the longest they went without conceding in the whole tie – but Tambedou made it 4-0 on the night when he robbed the ball off Adrian Cieslewicz, played a one-two with Gregor Lehtmets, and fired home.
The final nail in Caernarfon’s coffin came in the 89th minute when Mark Roosnupp teed up Mihkel Ainsalu to curl a stunning first time effort into the top corner from the edge of the box.
