Larne vs St Joseph’s
Larne take on St Joseph’s of Gibraltar tonight in second leg of the UFEA Europa Conference League f ollowing their scoreless draw last week. Tiernan Lynch’s men were slight favourites for the first clash but couldn’t wrestle a victory away from home team.
It’s the second season in a row that Larne have tasted European football. They progressed through two rounds last season beating Bala Town and AGF Aarhus before losing out to Portuguese side Paços Ferreira, despite winning their home leg 1-0.
It was the visiting side that arguably made the better chances in the first-round tie and could have held the lead at the break. Both sides equally had chances to take the victory, but neither could find that all-important goal.
That leaves a winner takes all scenario tonight. With home advantage Larne are hot favourites to make it through to the next round where they’ll face Slavia Prague.
Crusaders v Magpies
Crusaders will be up against it tonight as they hope to peg back a 2-1 deficit following last week’s first leg defend away from home. The Belfast based club will play host tonight in the familiar surroundings at Seaview.
It was the home side who broke the deadlock during the opening period of the first clash, when Daniel Bent fired home from the edge of the box just before the half time whistle sounded.
The margin was doubled minutes after the second half kick-off and gave Crusaders a huge mountain to climb. Magpie’s striker Pibe beat the offside trap and slotted past Jonny Tuffey four minutes into the second half.
Crusaders kept fighting and eventually pulled one back as Jordan Forsythe’s goal, assisted by a Ross Clarke corner, sparked some life into the visitors. Stephen Baxter’s men couldn’t tie the game and will look to give a better showing this evening.
