The New Saints fell to a second successive defeat in the UEFA Conference League as Swedish side Djurgarden triumphed 1-0 at New Meadow on Matchday 4 of the League Phase.
“I thought we were really well organised, defended really well, had a good shape and frustrated them for large periods of the game,” Craig Harrison said. “We’re just a little bit disappointed with our end product. Certainly in the second half we had some really good final third entries but we just didn’t really ask a huge amount of questions of them.”
Harrison made two changes from last weekend’s crucial league win over Penybont and four changes from TNS’ last European game against Shamrock Rovers three weeks ago. Defenders Ash Baker and Harrison McGahey both made their first appearances in the League Phase.
The Saints had started strongly in their first three League Phase matches, but this time it was Djurgarden who showed the most promise right from the off.
Tokmac Nguen proved to be an early threat, with the Saints defence needing to stand firm to block multiple efforts from the one-cap Norway international.
Opportunities did begin to open up for Craig Harrison’s side, with Ash Baker and captain Danny Redmond both firing over the bar from on the edge of the box, but Djurgarden continued to look dangerous as Connor Roberts denied Nguen and Marcus Danielson.
A deserved opener arrived for the Swedish side four minutes before half-time. Gustav Wikheim played in full-back Adam Stahl down the right hand side and he squared the ball for Tobias Gulliksen in the box to score for the second consecutive UEFA Conference League game.
Djurgarden continued to dominate possession after the break, with TNS keeping them at bay but struggling to create anything of note themselves in the opportunities they did get on the ball.
Rory Holden and Adam Wilson were introduced in the 69th minute, with the latter proving his worth almost instantly as he drew a foul from Rasmus Schuller who was booked.
Djurgarden had the chance to grab a second goal when they broke forward in the 80th minute, but Josh Daniels slid in superbly to clear Wikheim’s pass in the box.
Adrian Cieslewicz came on soon after and quickly created an opportunity by cutting in from the left and delivering a cross into the box, but Josh Pask met it with a header that went well wide.
It was a sign of the game opening up in the closing stages and Djurgarden perhaps should have doubled their lead when Deniz Hummet blazed over one-on-one with Roberts, while TNS substitute Holden saw his effort from range deflect wide in stoppage time.
Ultimately though, time ran out for the JD Cymru Premier champions as they fell to a defeat which leaves them on three points from four games and likely needing a positive result in both of their final two League Phase matches to qualify for the knockout stage play-offs.
“We still want to try our best to get into that top 24,” Harrison said, who’s side now sit 29th in the 36-team table. “We’ve got two games left and we’ll be looking forward to them. Mathematically it’s still there. With a good goal difference, six [points] might creep you in there. But it is what it is and we’ll take each game as it comes.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Saints though, as Greek giants Panathinaikos visit New Meadow in a fortnight’s time.
“We know how tough it’s going to be,” captain Redmond admitted. Panathinaikos have got great European pedigree but football is a funny old game and you never what can happen. All we can do is give it our all.”
