Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
It seems as once again West Ham may not make it to the Europa League group stages for the second year in a row as they fell behind in the first leg of their tie with Domzale of Slovenia. Domzale only finished third in the Slovenian League last season but they were more than a match for Slaven Bilic’s side and had it not be for Adrian’s heroics in goal then the tie could have been all but over by the end of last night.
As it stands though West Ham will christen their Olympic Stadium next Thursday by having to overturn a 2-1 deficit if they are to progress in the competition. The mercurial talents of Dimitri Payet were not on display last night but apart from that it was all but a full strength Hammers line up. But they seemed to struggle especially at the back with Michail Antonio having a torrid time at right back and Matic Crnic was the hero of the evening as his brace either side of Mark Noble’s spot kick gave the Slovenian side an historic victory.
Aberdeen left it late to salvage a draw against Maribor. Maribor thermselves scored with just 7 minutes to go but with 2 minutes left on the clock Aberdeen managed to level things up. They will have to score in the 2nd leg if they are to progress. While Irish side Cork City went down 1-0 to RKC Genk, the Belgian side who were in the Champions League last season now take a slender advantage into next week’s return fixture
Here is a full run down of the results
