Europa League Qualifying: Rangers, Hibs Take Series Openers

The opening round of Europa League qualifying continued on Thursday with 40 games.

At Gardabaer, Iceland:

Hilmar Halldorsson (PK-20'), Baldur Sigurdsson (52'), and Gudhjon Baldvinsson (70') each scored once as Stjarnan dominated visiting Nomme Kalju 3-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Tampere, Finland:

Momchil Tzvelanov scored the only goal of the match in the 80th minute as Slavia Sofia took the opening game of their series with Ilves 1-0 on the road.

At Dunajska Streda, Slovakia:

Vakoun Issouf Bayo's equalizer in the 30th minute enabled DAC Dunajska Streda to salvage a series-opening 1-1 home draw with Dinamo Tbilisi.

Budu Zivzivadze scored for the Georgian club in the 14th minute.

At Alytus, Lithuania:

Levan Matcharashvili's goal in the opening minute of second-half stoppage time carried Stumbras to a series-opening 1-0 victory over visiting Apollon Limassol.

At Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Tomislav Turcin (47') and Stipo Markovic (83') each scored a second-half goal as NK Siroki Brijeg came back from two goals down to gain a 2-2 series-opening home draw with NK Domzale.

Lovlo Bizjak (12') and Dario Melnjak (26') provided the goalpower for the Slovenian club.

At Glasgow, Scotland:

Jamie Murphy (23') and James Tavernier (90'+2) delivered the goals as Rangers blanked  Shkupi (Macedonia) 2-0 in their series-opening contest.

At Qabala, Azerbaijan:

Mayron De Almeida (52') and Olivier Thill (PK-61') each scored once as Progres Niederkorn knocked off Qabala 2-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Luxembourg City:

Denis Dragus (23') and Ianis Hagi (PK-82') each scored once as  Viitorul Constanta blanked Racing FC 2-0 on the road in match one of their series.

At Tirane, Albania:

Gregor Bajde's goal in the 50th minute lifted Maribor to a 1-0 series-opening road victory over Partizani Tirana.

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Bagaliy Dabo scored twice (23', 72') as Neftci defeated visiting Ujpest 3-1 in their series opener.

At Podgorica, Montenegro:

Hamza Catakovic (27') and Antonio Mance (30') each scored a goal late in the opening half-hour as Trencin knocked off Buducnost Podgorica 2-0 on the road in the opening match of their series with the Montenegrin club.

At Derry, Northern Ireland:

Nino Galovic (2') and Vladimir Khvashchinskiy (64') each scored once as Dinamo Minsk blanked Derry City 2-0 on the road in game one.

At Torshavn, Faroe Islands:

B36 Torshavn and visiting Titograd Podgorica opened their series with a 0-0 stalemate.

At Zabreze, Poland:

Igor Angulo scored the game winner in the 87th minute as Gornik Zabreze took the opening match of their series with with Zaria 1-0.

At Novi Sad, Serbia:

Mile Savkovic's successfully-executed penalty kick in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time lifted Spartak Subotica to a series-opening 1-1 home draw with Coleraine.

Darren McCauley scored for the Northern Irish club in the 23rd minute.

At Yerevan, Armenia:

Mohamed Konate scored the only goal of the match in the 28th minute as Pyunik took the opening contest of their series with Macedonia's Vardar 1-0 in the Armenian capital.

At Dublin, Republic of Ireland:

Daniel Sundgren scored the only goal of the match in the 74th minute as AIK took the opening match of their series with Shamrock Rovers 1-0 on the road.

At Rhyl, Wales:

Elis Bakaj scored the winning goal in the 33rd minute as Shakhtyor Soligorsk knocked off Connah's Quay Nomads 3-1 on the road in their series-opening contest.

At Lahti, Finland:

Halldor Bjornsson (5'), Steve Lennon (19'), and Robbie Crawford (90'+1) each scored once as FH Hafnarfjordur dominated Lahti 3-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Venspils, Latvia:

Adeleke Akinyemi delivered a first-half quadruple (PK-08', 12', 24', 43') as Ventspils all but locked up a berth in the second qualifying round after their series-opening 5-0 fist-beating of visiting Luftetari Gjirokaster of Albania.

At Belfast, Northern Ireland:

Andreas Olsen's goal in the 19th minute provided all the scoring in FC Nordjaelland's series-opening 1-0 road win over Cliftonville.

At Andorra la Vella, Andorra:

Walter Wagner (OG-5'), Bauyrzhan Islamkhan (PK-25'), and Marton Eppel (90') each scored once as Kairat dominated Engordany 3-0 on the road in match one.

At Chisinau, Moldova:

Vladimir Ambros's goal in the 66th minute lifted Petroclub to a series-opening 1-1 draw with visiting Osijek.

Mirko Maric scored for the Croatian club in the 52nd minute.

At Lanarca, Cyprus:

Danijel Pranjic (PK-52') and Sekou Cisse (59') each scored a second-half goal as Anorthosis Famagusta held off visiting Laci 2-1 in their series opener.

At Budapest, Hungary:

Eliran Atar's equalizer in the opening minute of second-half stoppage time carried Maccabi Tel Aviv to a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Ferencvaros.

Stefan Spirovski scored at 61 minutes for the Hungarian club.

At Ta' Qali, Malta:

Alfred Effiong (12'), Alex da Piaxao (21'), Bojan Kaljevic (34'), and Carlos Eduardo Mendes (55') each scored once as Balzan opened their series with Azerbaijan's Keslo with a dominating 4-1 home win.

At Niksic, Montenegro:

Marko Jevtovic (PK-42'), Seydouba Soumah (50'), and Ricardo Gomes (57') each scored once as Partizan Belgrade dominated Rudar Pljevlja 3-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Sofia, Bulgaria:

Tiago Rodrigues scored the game's lone goal in the 50th minute as CSKA Sofia defeated visiting Riga 1-0 in their series-opening match.

At Orhei, Moldova:

Mohammed Rharsalla scored twice (10', 41') as SK Slovan Bratislava took the measure of Milsami Orhei 4-2 on the road in their series-opening game.

At Nis, Serbia:

Radnici Nis, with Nermin Haskic scoring twice (53', 85') demolished visiting Gzira United (Malta) 4-0 in their series opener.

At Poznan, Poland:

Christian Gytkjaer scored twice (10', PK-15') in the first quarter-hour as Lech Poznan blanked visiting Gandzasar Kapan (Armenia) 2-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Tbilisi, Georgia:

The opening contest between Chikhura Sachkhere and visiting Beitar Jerusalem ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Tallinn, Estonia:

Milos Bakrac (16') and Anel Sabanadzovic (74') each scored once as Zeljeznicar blanked Narva Trans 2-0 in the opening game of their series on the road.

At Vilnius, Lithuania:

Trakai (Lithuania) and visiting Irtysh Pavlodar battled to a series-opening 0-0 stalemate.

At Edinburgh, Scotland:

Florian Kamberi produced a hat trick (PK-3', 21', 48') while Stephen Mallan added a double (43', 84') as Hibernian destroyed visiting NSI Runavik 6-1 in their series opener.

At Velenje, Slovenia:

Rudar Velenje, with Milan Tucic (33', 59') and Dominik Radic (48', 78') each scoring twice, blindsided visiting Tre Fiori 7-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Tallinn, Estonia:

Dylan Connolly scored the only goal of the match in the 53rd minute as Dundalk knocked off FCI Levadia 1-0 on the road in game one of their series.

At Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland:

Rashad Muhammed (59'), Patrick Mortensen (66'), Ole Halvorsen (90'+1), and Amin Askar (90'+4) each scored once in the second half as Sarpsborg 08 blasted open what was at halftime a goalless deadlock and blew out IBV 4-0 on the road in their series-opening contest.

At Kuopio, Finland:

Robert Skov's goal in the 75th minute carried FC Copenhagen to a series-opening 1-0 road win over KuPS.

At Liepaja, Latvia:

Daleho Irandust (74'), Paulinho Guerreiro (77'), and Mervan Celik (82') each scored a second-half goal during an eight-minute stretch as BK Hacken dominated FK Liepaja 3-0 on the road in their series opener.