Thursday, July 02, 2015

Europa League: Hammers Win Series Opener

The first round of qualifying for the Europa League continued on Thursday with the opening contest of each of 48 (count 'em, folks! 48!) two-game series.

At Shymkent, Kazakhstan:

The opening match between Ordabasy and Israel's Beitar Jerusalem ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Gyumri, Armenia:

Jean-Jacques Bougouhi scored both goals (18', 67') in Shirak's series-opening 2-0 home win over Zrinjski Mostar.

At Yerevan, Armenia:

Mihran Manasyan scored the only goal of the match in the 59th minute as Alashkert defeated visiting St. Johnstone 1-0 in match one.

At Siauliai, Lithuania:

Karol Swiderski scored the only goal in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time as Jagiellonia Bialystok knocked off Kruoja Pakruolis 1-0 in their series opener on the road.

At Lac, Albania:

Nika Kvekveskiri's equalizer in the 47th minute lifted Inter Baku to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with KF Laci.  Agim Meto scored in the 20th minute for the Albanian club.

At Tirana, Albania:

Kukesi, with goals from Jean Carioca (9') and Pero Pejic (54'),  took the opening game of their series with Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 2-0 at home.

At Jelgava, Latvia:

PFC Litex Lovech gained a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Jelgava.  Vasil Bozhikov scored in the 50th minute to put the Bulgarian club in the lead, before Olegs Malasenoks equalized for the hosts at 83 minutes.

At Tbilisi, Georgia:

Dinamo Tbilisi, with Giorgi Papunashvili scoring the winning goal in the 84th minute, took the opening match of their series with Gabala of Azerbaijan 2-1 at home.

At Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Spartak Trnava, thanks to Emir Halilovic's 70th-minute equalizer, gained a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Olimpic. Dalibor Pandza scored for the hosts in the 14th minute.

At Helsinki, Finland:

Thanks to Steven Lennon's goal in the 56th minute, FH Hafnarfjordur took the opening match of their series with SJK 1-0 on the road.

At Riga, Latvia:

Skonto FC took the opening game of their two-game series with St. Patrick's Athletic 2-1 at home. Vladislavs Gutkovskis scored the winning goal in the 65th minute.

At Lahti, Finland:

Elfsborg of Sweden, with Marcus Rohden(15') and Viktor Prodell (59') each scoring once, gained a series-opening 2-2 road draw with FC Lahti, whose goals came courtesy of Pekka Lagerblom (25') and Matheus Alves (61').

At Klaipeda, Lithuania:

Beroe Stara Zagora of Bulgaria, with Spas Delev (60') and
Georgi Bozhilov (84') each tallying once, took the opening match of their series with Atlantas 2-0 on the road.


At Tallinn, Estonia:

Maksim Gussev scored the only goal of the match in the 59th minute as Flora Tallinn took the opening game with Macedonia's FK Rabotnicki 1-0 at home.

At Andorra la Valla, Andorra:

Randers FC took the opening game with Sant Julia 1-0 on the road. Jonas Borring scored for the Danish club in the 22nd minute.

At Aktobe, Kazakhstan:

Ats Purje scored the lone goal of the match in the 72nd minute as Nomme Kalju took game one of their series with Aktobe 1-0 on the road.

At Zestaponi, Georgia:

Giorgi Gabedeva scored the only goal of the match in the 40th minute as Dinamo Batumi defeated visiting Omonia 1-0 in game one at home.

At Oulu, Finland:

Nabil Bahoui scored twice (70', PK-83') in the second half as  AIK gained a series-opening 2-2 road draw with VPS. Admir Catovic (45'+3) and Jordan Seabrook (65') each scored a goal for the hosts.

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Mladost Podgorica of Montenegro, with Dusan Lagator (34') and Luka Mirkovic (87') each scoring once,  gained a series-opening 2-2 road draw with Neftchi Baku.  Kamal Gurbanov (36') and Araz Abdullayev (55') delivered the goals for the hosts.

At Debrecen, Hungary:

Rene Mihelic (16'), Dusan Brkovic (71'),and Ibrahima Sidibe (74') each scored a goal as Debreceni VSC dominated visiting Sutjeska Niksic 3-0 in the opening game of their two-match series.

At Rakvere, Estonia:

Kyrylo Silich's equalizer in the 40th minute enabled Sillamae Kalev to salvage a series-opening 1-1 draw with visiting Hajduk Split.  Mijo Caktas successfully converted a penalty kick in the sixth minute for the visiting club from Croatia.

At Tiraspol, Moldova:

Chukwuma Akabueze (2'), Frode Johnsen (11'), and Steffen Hagen (28') each scored a goal in the first half-hour as Odds BK got one foot into the second qualifying round after their series-opening 3-0 road domination of FC Sheriff.

At Differdange, Luxembourg:

Gauthier Caron scored the winning goal in the seventh minute as Differdange 03 defeated visiting Bala Town 3-1 in the opening game of their two-match series.

At Brondby, Denmark:

Johan Elmander (6', 16') and Elba Rashani (55', 87') each scored twice as Brondby destroyed visiting Juvenes/Dogana 9-0 in the opening game of their two-match series.

At Chisinau, Moldova:

Joao Pedro (33') and Fotios Papoulis (89') each scored a goal as Apollon Limassol blanked FC Saxan 2-0 on the road in match one of their two-game series.

At Kaunas, Lithuania:

Alyaksandr Bychanok (20'), David Arshakyan (61'), and Ronaldas Solominas (86') each scored a goal as FK Trakai opened their series with a 3-0 domination of visiting HB from the Faroe Islands. 

At Drammen, Norway:

Lars Christopher Vilsvik scored twice (21', 73') as Stromgodset defeated visiting Partizani Tirana 3-1 in match one.

At Botosani, Romania:

Nika Katcharava's equalizer in the 46th minute lifted Spartaki Tskhinvali gained a 1-1 series-opening road draw with FC Botosani.  Petre Ivanovici scored for the hosts in the 21st minute.

At Gibraltar:

Karol Meszaros delivered a hat trick (5', 26', 31) in the first half as FC Slovan Bratislava scored five goals in the first half en route to a series-opening 6-0 road frontier-styled fist beating of Europa FC.

At Bangor, Wales:

Mirko Maric scored the winning goal in the 61st minute as Lokomotivo Zagreb defeated Airbus UK Broughton 3-1 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Toftir, Faroe Islands:

Alexander Soderlund scored both goals (82', 90'+2) in Rosenborg's series opening 2-0 road win over Vikingur Gota.

At Emmen, Netherlands:

Bart Vriends' equalizer in the second minute of first-half stoppage time carried Go Ahead Eagles to a 1-1 series-opening draw with Ferencvaros.  Zoltan Gera scored for the Hungarian club in the third minute.

At Domzale, Slovenia:

Igor Matic's penalty kick in the 43rd minute lifted FK Cukaricki to a series-opening 1-0 road win over NK Domzale.

At Celje, Slovenia:

Slask Wroclaw, thanks to Robert Pich's tally in the 32nd minute, knocked off NK Celje on the road 1-0 in their series opener.

At Newtown, Wales:

Jason Oswell scored the winning goal in the opening minute of second-half stoppage time as Newtown AFC defeated visiting Valletta 2-1.

At Budapest, Hungary:

MTK Budapest and visiting Vojvodina battled to a series-opening 0-0 stalemate.

At Podgorica, Montenegro:

Nauris Bulvitis scored twice (22', PK-74') as Spartaks Jurmala took the opening match of their series with Buducnost Podgorica 3-1 on the road.

At Serravalle, San Marino:

Five different goal scorers----starting with Pascal Schurpf in the fifth minute----each tallied once as FC Vaduz destroyed La Fiorita 5-0 on the road in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At London:

Diafra Sakho scored twice (40', 45'+2) as West Ham United dominated visiting Lusitanos 3-0 in their series opener.

At Lurgan, Northern Ireland:

Dzmitry Kamarowski scored the winning goal in the 30th minute as FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk took game one of their series with Glenavon 2-1 on the road.

At Belfast, Northern Ireland:

Andrew Waterworth (57') and Guy Bates (73') each scored once as Linfield FC blanked visiting NSI Runavik 2-0 in game one.

At Belgrade, Serbia:

Gerard Gohou (45') and Emrek Kuantayev (64') each scored a goal as FC Kairat blanked Red Star Belgrade 2-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Cork, Ireland:

Oskar Orn Hauksson's equalizer in the 28th minute carried KR Reykjavik to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Cork City.  Alan Bennett scored for the Leesiders in the 19th minute.

At Dublin, Ireland:

Ryan Swan scored the only goal of the match in the first minute of first-half stoppage time as University College Dublin defeated visiting F91 Dudelange 1-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Paola, Malta:

The opening contest between Birkirkara and visiting Ulisses of Armenia concluded in a 0-0 deadlock.

At Belfast, Northern Ireland:

Jakub Paur scored what proved to be the game winner in the 20th minute as MSK Zilina dominated Glentoran 4-1 on the road in game one.

At Skopje, Macedonia:

Hristijan Kirovski's equalizer in the 84th minute enabled Shkendija to salvage opening 1-1 draw with visiting Aberdeen.  Niall McGinn scored in the 79th minute for the Dons.

At Reykjavik, Iceland:

Matej Pucko scored the only goal in the match in the 77th minute as FC Koper took their series opener from Vikingur Reykjavik 1-0 on the road.

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