St Johnstone and Hibs had very different results as both SPL sides came up against Scandinavian opposition in the Europa League qualifiers.

Tommy Wright’s first competitive match in charge couldn’t have gone much better, as his St Johnstone side earned a historic one-nil win over seasoned Norwegian qualifiers Rosenborg BK. After a opening 10 minutes of sounding each other out a St Johnstone corner from the left was met by the head of experienced defend Frazer Wright to send the travelling fans into a state of delirium and put the away side 1-0 ahead along with having the priceless away goal. Rosenborg threatened to get the equaliser and only twice was St Johnstone keeper Allan Mannus called into action saving from Daniel Berntsen on both occasions. Saints new boy Nigel Hasselbaink was a threat to the lackluster Rosenborg defence the 64 minutes he was on the field with his directness and quick feet. Into the 2nd half Steven McLean almost doubled his sides lead good inter play by Wotherspoon and Hasselbaink set up McLean for a pop at goal. Rosenborg certainly missed midfielder Mix Diskerud who is currently on international duty at the Gold Cup with The United States, the front 3 of Rosenborg didn’t cover themselves in glory, although the last 10 minutes Rosenborg were on top Wright’s side held on to clinch a fantastic result ahead of next week’s return at McDermaid Park.

The other side of the coin for Scottish Cup finalists Hibernian who will need almost a miracle if they are to qualify for the next round after being well beaten by Swedish league leaders MalmoFF.

Hibs fell behind to the Swedish side losing two goals within the opening twelve minutes – Hibs skipper James McPake was booked for a foul on Rantie and, from the resulting free-kick, Hamad fired over the wall and past Ben Williams, to put Malmo one-up. Within minutes of the opener Malmo added to their lead when Emil Forsberg pulled back for Eriksson to knock the ball past the despairing Williams once again. Both sides hit the woodwork Hibs new-boy Rowan Vine and Rantie for Malmo. Overall Malmo was in total control of the match and deserved the two-goal victory and it may well be able to have been more, Hibs could have no complaints. They have a lot of work to do if Pat Fenlon’s charges European adventure is to go any further than next week.

JAMIE CURRIE

FULL RESULTS

THURSDAY 18TH JULY 2013

Irtysh Pavlodar 3-2 Siroki Brijeg

Dila Gori 3-0 AaB

Ventspils 1-0 AS Jeunesse Esch

Dinamo Minsk 1-2 Lokomotiva Zagreb

FC Honka 1-3 Lech Poznan

FK Qarabag 2-1 Piast Gliwice

Mladost Podgorica 2-2 Inter Bratislava

Shakhtyor 1-1 Milsami Orhei

Beroe 1-4 Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Skonto FC 2-1 Liberec

Zrinjski Mostar 1-1 Botev Plovdiv

Anorthosis Famagusta 3-0 Gefle

Chornomorets Odessa 2-0 Dacia Chisinau

Levadia Tallinn 0-0 Pandurii Targu-Jiu

FC Petrolul Ploiesti 3-0 Vikingur

Hodd 1-0 Aktobe

IFK Gothenburg 0-0 FK AS Trencin

Maccabi Haifa 2-0 FK Khazar Lenkoran

Malmo 2-0 Hibernian

Rosenborg 0-1 St Johnstone

Stromsgodset 2-2 Debrecen

Tromso 2-0 Inter Baku

Differdange 2-1 FC Utrecht

FC Thun 2-0 Chikhura Sachkhere

Kukesi 3-2 FK Sarajevo

Valletta 1-1 Minsk

FK Jagodina 2-3 Rubin Kazan

Zalgiris Vilnius 2-0 Pyunik

FC Xanthi 0-1 Linfield

Sparta Prague 2-2 Hacken

CSM Astra Ploiesti 1-1 Omonia Nicosia

Hajduk Split 2-1 FK Turnovo

Red Star Belgrade 2-0 IBV Vestmannaeyjar

Trabzonspor 4-2 Derry City

Vojvodina 2-0 Honved

Olimpija Ljubljana 3-1 MSK Zilina

Slask Wroclaw 4-0 Rudar Pljevlja

Rijeka 5-0 Prestatyn Town

Breidablik 0-0 Sturm Graz

KR Reykjavik 1-3 Standard Liege

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