66 clubs from across Europe continued their quest to reach the group stages of the Europa League last night in what was an action packed evening of football. In terms of British representation there was just the one club due to everyone being knocked out in the previous stage of the competition.
That meant that the weight of the nation was on Aberdeen’s shoulders and they managed to restore some pride to Scottish Football with a 1-1 draw with Bosnian outfit Siroki Birjeg of Bosnia at Pittodrie, Derek McInnes side did have their noses in front but were pegged back as the visitors bagged an all important away goal.
That arguably puts them in the box seat for next Thursday’s return leg as Aberdeen are going to have to score at least once to progress onto the next round. Here is the pick of last nights action
In terms of League Of Ireland representation it was not a good night as both Shamrock Rovers and Cork suffered home defeats. Rovers were edged out in a five goal thriller by Mlada Bolesav of the Czech Republic while Cork lost out to AEK Larnaca of Cyprus by a single goal.
Progres Niedercorn of Luxembourg who got the better of Rangers in the previous round were also thwarted by Cypriot opposition as they lost to AEL Limassol while arguably the biggest team in this stage of the competition Galatasaray suffered a shock 2-0 defeat away at Ostersund of Sweden
Here is a full rundown of all the first leg results