Europa League Qualifying: Potters, Cottagers, Hearts Advance To Playoff Round

The third qualifying round for the Europa League concluded as the second games of all thirty-five two-game series were played on Thursday.


At Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic:

Njongo Priso (44') and Mijan Mrdakovic (PK-76') each delivered a goal as AEK Larnaca drew 2-2 on the road with FK Mlada Boleslav in game two and won their two-game series 5-2 on aggregate to advance to the playoff round.


At Varazdin, Croatia:

With Ionel Danciulescu (7') and Catalin Munteanu (26') registering a goal apiece, Dinamo Bucharest took game two of their two-match series with NK Varazdin 2-1 on the road and the two-game series 4-3 on aggregate.


At Aktobe, Kazakhstan:

FC Aktobe, with Vladimir Djilas scoring at 75 minutes, and visiting FC Alania Vladikavkaz, with Marat Bikmaev scoring at 55 minutes, played game two to a 1-1 deadlock, forcing the series (level at 2-2 after 120 minutes) into what turned out to be 30 minutes of scoreless overtime.  The Russian club won the penalty-kick shootout 4-2 to advance to the playoff round.  Georgy Gabulov, Marat Bikmaev, Roland Gigolayev, and Danilo Montecino Neco converted their spot kicks for the Alanian Snow Leopards.


At Boras, Sweden:

Fredrik Ulvestad's penalty kick at 49 minutes proved to be more than enough as Aalesund gained a 1-1 road draw in game two with Elfsborg and eliminated the Swedish club 5-1 on aggregate.


At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Despite being blanked 1-0 on the road in game two, Club Brugge still won their two-game series with Qarabag 4-2 on aggregate.


At Drammen, Norway:

Atletico Madrid took care of business on the road as they defeated Stromgodset IF 2-0 in game two and won their series 4-1 on aggregate.


At Sligo, Ireland:

Serhiy Zararliuka (16') and Pavlo Rebenok (17') provided the back-breaking scoring a minute apart in the first half as FC Vorskla Poltava blanked Sligo Rovers in game two and won their two-match series with the Irish club by the same score---2-0---on aggregate.


At Gomel, Belarus:

Alfred N'Diaye (78'), Federico Insua (85'), and Turgay Bahadir (90'+1) provided the late scoring as Bursaspor broke open both a tight game and tight two-match series, winning game two 3-1 on the road and the series with FC Gomel 5-2 on aggregate.


At Warsaw, Poland:

A scoreless draw at home proved good enough for Legia Warsaw as they won their two-game series with Gaziantespor 1-0 on aggregate.


At Rennes, France:

Victor Montano (75') and Julien Feret (85') provided the goals as Rennes stimpied visiting Metalurgist Rustavi 2-0 in game two and finished off the Georgian club 7-2 on aggregate.


At Trnava, Slovakia:

With Ladislav Tomacek scoring twice in regulation (52', PK-59'), Spartak Trnava outscored visiting Levski Sofia 2-1 in game two (deadlocking the two-game series at 3-3 on aggregate)to force two fifteen-minute scoreless overtime periods before winning the penalty-kick shootout 5-4 (courtesy of successful spot kicks from Miroslav Karhan, Lubos Hanzel, Roman Prochazka, Lidislav Tomacek, and Marek Kaskec) to advance to the playoff round.


At Tbilisi, Georgia:

Dinamo Tbilisi blanked visiting KR Reykjavik 2-0 in game two to finish their two-match beatdown of the Icelandic champs 6-1 on aggregate.  Alberto Yague (48') and Giorgi Kakhelishvili (55') provided the scoring for Dinamo.


At Senica, Slovakia:

Alan tallied twice in the second half (57', 64') as FC Red Bull Salzburg dominated FK Senica 3-0 on the road in game two and won their two-game series 4-0 on aggregate to advance to the playoff round.


At Medias, Romania:

Taher Bawab's equalizer at 62 minutes enabled CS Gas Metan Medias to deadlock game two of their series with Mainz at 1-1 after regulation, squaring their two-game set at 2-2 on aggregate, then, after 30 scoreless overtime minutes, thanks to successfully converted spot kicks from Florin Lazar, Ionut Buzean, Ciprian Petre, and the aforementioned Taher Bawab, won the penalty-kick shootout 4-3 to advance to the playoff round.


At Helsingborg, Sweden:

The Milk Cow proved to be deliverers of sweet milk for Helsingborg as they overturned last week's 1-0 road defeat with a 3-0 home victory in game two with Bnei Yehuda and took out the Israeli club 3-1 on aggregate, with Mattias Lindstrom scoring twice (3', 73') for the hosts.


At Split, Croatia:

Ljubo Milicevic's own goal at the death (90'+1) sealed Hajduk Split's fate as Stoke City up a second straight 1-0 win over the Croatian club, this time on the road as the Potters took the series 2-0 on aggregate.


At Gothenburg, Sweden:

Despite dropping a 2-1 decision on the road to BK Hacken, CD Nacional still won their two-match series 4-2 on aggregate.  Mario Rondon helped ice the series for the Portuguese club with his 40th-minute goal.


At Brondby, Denmark:

Despite dropping a 4-2 game-two decision with Brondby IF, SV Reid, with Daniel Royer (71') and Anel Hadzic (88') providing the critical tallies, with the two-match score at 4-4, won their series on away goals.


At Tel Aviv, Israel:

Roberto Colautti (18', 45'+1) and Elran Atar (54', 86') each scored twice as Maccabi Tel Aviv demolished visiting FK Zeljeznicar 6-0 in game two and finished off their Bosnian opponents 8-0 on aggregate.


At Thun, Switzerland:

Dario Lezcano scored the series-wining goal at 65 minutes, as FC Thun, despite being held to a 1-1 home draw in game two with Palermo, still managed to win their series (at 3-3 on aggregate) on away goals.


At Sofia, Bulgaria:

After 210 scoreless minutes, resulting from last week's scoreless stalemate in Poland, a scoreless second game in the Bulgarian capital, followed by 30 minutes of scoreless overtime, WKS Slask Wroclaw won the penalty-kick shootout 4-3 to eliminate hosts Lokomotiv Sofia and advance. 


At Westerlo, Belgium:

Marco Schneuwly (5') and Henri Bienvenu (77') each tallied once as BSC Young Boys blanked KVC Westerlo 2-0 on the road in game two and won the series 5-1 on aggregate.


At Vaduz, Liechtenstein:

Omer Damari scored in the first minute as Hapoel Tel Aviv, despite dropping a 2-1 road decision in game two to FC Vaduz, won their two-match series 5-2 on aggregate.


At The Hague, Netherlands:

Despite dropping game two 1-0 on the road to ADO Den Haag, Omonia still won their two-game series 3-1 on aggregate.


At Volos, Greece:

Thanks to goals courtesy of Juan Martin (30'), Zoltan Szelesi (58'), and Elias Solakis (83'), Olympiacos Volou racked up a second successive 3-0 win over visiting FC Differdange 03 to win their two-match series 6-0 on aggregate.


At Skopje, Macedonia:

Pance Kumbev scored the series-winning goal at 87 minutes as FK Rabotnicki, despite losing game two 2-1 at home to Anorthosis Famagusta FC, won their two-game series with their Cypriot opponents 3-2 on aggregagte.


At Thessaloniki, Greece:

PAOK FC, with Vieirinha (45'), Stefanos Athanasiadis (49'), and Giorios Fotakis (58') delivering the scoring goods, blanked visiting Valeranga 3-0 in game two and took out the Norwegian club 5-0 on aggregate.


At Belgrade, Serbia:

Andrija Kaludjerovic (23', 53') and Cristian Borja (41', 75') each scored twice as Red Star Belgrade destroyed visiting Ventspils 7-0 in game two to finish their two-match annihilation of the Latvian club 9-1 on aggregate.


At Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic:

Charlison Benschop scored at 45 minutes as AZ Alkmaar gained a 1-1 road draw in game two with FK Jablonec and won their two-match series 3-1 on aggregate. 


At London:

Thanks to goals from Andrew Johnson (19') and Danny Murphy (PK-59'), Fulham defeated visiting RNK Split 2-0 in game two and won their two-match series by that same score on aggregate.


At Dublin, Ireland:

Sergei Zenjov (22'), Igor Khudobyak (64'), and Igor Oshchypko (83') each scored once as FC Karpaty Lviv rolled over St. Patrick's Athletic 3-1 on the road in game two and won their two-game series 5-1 on aggregate. 


At Edinburgh, Scotland:

Ryan Stevenson scored twice (34', 45'+1) as Heart of Midlothian overpowered visiting Paksi SE 4-1 in game two and eliminated the Hungarian club 5-2 on aggregate.


At Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Leony Kweuke (20') and Marek Matejovsky (36') provided the goalpower as Sparta Prague blanked FK Sarajevo 2-0 on the road in game two and finished off their Bosnian opponents 7-0 on aggregate.


At Vienna, Austria:

Nacer Barazite's hat trick (18', 46', PK-69') proved vital as Austria Vienna held on for dear life as they held off visiting Olimija Ljubljana 3-2 in game two and 4-3 on aggregate to advance to the playoff round.


At Guimaraes, Portugal:

After a scoreless opening match in Denmark, Abdelghani Faouzi (45') and Taringo (76') provided the scoring as Vitoria SC came from behind to defeat visiting FC Midtjylland 2-1 in game two and win the series by that same score on aggregate.