The New Saints suffered a 1-0 defeat to Flora Tallinn away in Estonia in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie.
Craig Harrison made one change from his side’s UEFA Champions League exit against Sabah last week, with Danny Davies replacing Eoin Farrell – allowing Dan Williams to move into midfield.
It was a switch that paid off in the early stages as Williams played a neat one-two with Leo Smith before releasing a shot that Flora goalkeeper Evert Grunvald did well to tip over the bar. Soon after, Davies made a driving run from deep but could only fire his shot straight at Grunvald.
However, Flora grew into the contest and were ahead just after the half hour mark. TNS failed to deal with a looping ball into the box and it fell to 18-year-old Remo Valdmets who volleyed past Nathan Shepperd.
Valdmets almost doubled his tally just before half-time when he was played through on goal by Tony Varjund, but this time Shepperd produced an excellent stop one-one-one to deny the teenager.
The second half was a quieter affair but was not without a golden opportunity for TNS to equalise. After Jack Bodenham had headed down Rory Holden’s delivery to Eoin Farrell, the Irishman laid the ball off to Dan Williams who fired towards goal but his strike was deflected onto the crossbar by the Flora defender.
The Saints will aim to overturn the one goal deficit in the second leg of the tie, which takes place at Park Hall on Thursday 30 July (KO 18:30).
“It puts us in a good position,” Craig Harrison said after the game, despite the defeat. “We’re really encouraged by the last 15, 20 minutes where we finished really strong.
“The lads looked fit, strong, really full of energy and we should have scored a goal. I think we probably deserved a 1-1 draw. We probably didn’t do enough to win the game, but I certainly don’t think they did either. We’re looking forward to going back to Park Hall, resting up and seeing where it takes us.”
