Thursday evening featured the first legs in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, including:-
17.00 Pyunik (Armenia) 0-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Matt Doherty returned from injury and opened the scoring after 29 minutes of this comfortable victory for Wolves. Following his injury lay-off, Doherty was withdrawn after 63 minutes.
Other Results
18.30 Ludogorets (Bulgaria) 5-0 The New Saints
19.00 FC Midtjylland (Denmark) 2-4 Glasgow Rangers
19.00 HNK Rijeka (Croatia) 2-0 Aberdeen
Dundalk went down to a one nil defeat in their Europa League third round first leg contest with Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia this Wednesday evening. The ‘Lilywhites’ held out until the 85th minute but the concession of that late goal creates huge pressure for the second leg in Tallaght Stadium at 7.45pm on Tuesday the 13th August.
Also in Wednesday evening action were Glasgow Celtic who travelled to Romania where they played out a one all draw with CFR Clug in their third round first leg Champions League contest.
Mick McCarthy was in attendance at Fratton Park on Tuesday evening when League One Portsmouth defeated Championship side Birmingham City by three goals to nil in the first round of the EFL Cup.
Ronan Curtis and new signing Marcus Harness both started for the hosts while Norwich City loanee Sean Raggett was introduced from the substitute bench for the final eight minutes. The visitors included their new signing Dan Crowley in their starting eleven while Corey O’Keefe and teenage defenders Ryan Burke and Joe Redmond were on the substitute bench. Curtis was particularly impressive with Harness also showing some glimpses of quality while Crowley, deployed in a strange forward position, showed some neat touches but was unable to make any real impact before his withdrawal after fifty five minutes.
Linfield were in Europa League third qualifying round action when they travelled to face Sutjeska Niksic the champions of Montenegro in the first leg on Tuesday evening. The Belfast side put themselves in the driving seat for the second leg by coming from behind to secure a two one victory.