Europa League Qualifying: Hammers Blow Two-Goal Lead, Settle For Game-One Draw; Saints Dominate Vitesse

The third round of Europa League qualifying continued on Thursday with 28 games.

At Almaty, Kazakhstan:

Bauyrzhan Islamkhan scored the winning goal in the 22nd minute as FC Kairat held off visiting Aberdeen 2-1 in game one.  Kenny McLean scored in the 69th minute to keep the Dons alive in the series.

At Boras, Sweden:

Simon Lundevall scored the winning goal in the 76th minute as Elfsborg defeated visiting Odds BK 2-1 in their series opener.  The Norwegian club stayed alive in the series thanks to Olivier Occean's penalty kick in the 21st minute.

At Thessaloniki, Greece:

Lucas Perez Martinez scored the only goal of PAOK's series-opening 1-0 win over visiting Spartak Trnava in the 82nd minute.

At Graz, Austria:

Igor Portnyagin scored the winning goal in the 61st minute as Rubin Kazan knocked off Sturm Graz 3-2 in game one on the road.

At Liberec, Czech Republic:

Herolind Shala scored the game winner in the 84th minute as Slovan Liberec held off visiting Ironi Kiryat Shmona 2-1in the opening contest of their two-game series. Ahmed Abed scored in the 89th minute to keep the Israeli club in the series.

At Larnaca, Cyprus:

Javid Huseynov's penalty kick in the fifth minute of second half stoppage time lifted Gabala FK to a 1-1 series-opening road draw with Apollon Limassol.  Georgios Kolokoudias scored for the Cypriot club in the 14th minute.

At Solna, Sweden:

Marcelinho scored the game-winning goal in the 15th minute as Atromitos downed AIK 3-1 on the road in their series opener.

At Innsbruck, Austria:

Johannes Aigner's successfully-converted penalty kick in the 50th minute carried Rheindorf Altach to a series-opening 2-1 win over visiting Vitoria de Guimaeres.  Toze kept the Portuguese club alive in the series with his score in the 71st minute.

At Krasnodar, Russia:

Andreas Granqvist (45') and Pavel Mamayev (PK-59') delivered the goals as FC Krasnodar blanked visiting FC Slovan Bratislava 2-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Zurich, Switzerland:

Fatos Beciraj successfully converted a penalty kick in the 63rd minute as FC Dinamo Minsk took the opening match of their series with FC Zurich 1-0 on the road.

At Zilina, Slovakia:

Matej Jelic (26') and Jakub Paur (73') provided the tallies as MSK Zilina blanked visiting Vorskla Poltava 2-0 in game one.

At Alkmaar, Netherlands:

Jop van der Linden (PK-17') and Vincent Janssen (63') each scored once in AZ Alkmaar's series-opening 2-0 home win over Istanbul Basaksehir.

At Thun, Switzerland:

The opening contest between FC Thun and visiting FC Vaduz ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Targu Mures, Romania:

Romain Hamouma scored twice late in the second half (75', 83') as Saint-Etienne dominated ASA 2013 Targu Mures 3-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Debrecen, Hungary:

Tobias Mikkelsen scored twice (52', 87') as Rosenborg BK knocked off Debreceni VSC in the opening contest of their series.

At Tirana, Albania:

Jakub Rzezniczak scored the go-ahead goal in the 51st minute to carry Legia Warsaw to a 2-1 lead on the road against FK Kukesi.  However, the match was abandoned after a Legia Warsaw player was hit on the head by an object thrown from the crowd.

At Skopje, Macedonia:

Baze Ilijoski scored the only goal of FK Rabotnicki's series-opening 1-0 victory over visiting Trabzonspor in the 23rd minute.

At Brondby, Denmark:

Omonia held hosts Brondby IF to a series-opening 0-0 deadlock.

At Bordeaux, France:

Andre Poko (53'), Cheick Diabate (PK-74'), and Nicolas Maurice-Belay (80') each scored a goal as Bordeaux dominated visiting AEK Larnaca 3-0 in game one.

At Charleroi, Belgium:

Ruslan Malinovskyi scored twice (70', 89') as Zorya Luhansk blanked Charleroi 2-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Liege, Belgium:

Anthony Knockaert scored the game winner in the 28th minute as Standard Liege held off visiting FK Zeljeznicar 2-1 in game one.  Ognjen Delmic kept the Bosnian club in the series with his goal in the 64th minute.

At London:

Fernando Boldrin (71') and Angelo Ogbonna (OG-82') provided the scoring that enabled FC Astra Giurgiu to erase a two-goal deficit and gain a series-opening 2-2 road draw with West Ham United.  Enner Valencia (23') and Mauro Zarate (51') each tallied once for the Hammers.

At Bilbao, Spain:

Javier Eraso scored twice (12', 49') as Atletic Bilbao blanked visiting Inter Baku 2-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Carlos Martins scored twice (23', 41') as Belenenses held off visiting IFK Gothenburg 2-1 in their series opener.  Haitam Aleesami kept the Swedish club in the series with his goal in the 58th minute.

At Turin, Italy:

Ognjen Ozegovic scored twice (58', 90'+1) as Vojvodina found themselves halfway to a berth in the playoff round after their series-opening 4-0 road demolition of Sampdoria.

At Split, Croatia:

Andrija Balic (67') and Tomislav Kis (90'+3) each scored once as Hajduk Split blanked visiting Stromgodset 2-0 in game one.

At Southampton, England:

Graziano Pelle (36'), Dusan Tadic (PK-45'+1), and Shane Long (84') each scored a goal as Southampton dominated visiting Vitesse 3-0 in their series opener.

At Klagenfurt, Austria:

Jonas Hofmann scored the only goal of Borussia Dortmund's series-opening 1-0 road win over Wolfsberger AC in the 14th minute.