Young brace gives Saints impressive first leg win
Brad Young celebrates after scoring an early goal for New Saints
- Published
Brad Young scored twice as The New Saints put in an impressive display to beat FK Decic of Montenegro 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League first round qualifier.
Young’s brace and Dan Davies’ goal in the first half puts the Cymru Premier champions in a strong position ahead of the away tie.
The sides meet on Tuesday, 16 July and the winners will face Hungary’s Ferencvaros in the second qualifying round.
Saints started on the front foot and went ahead inside the opening four minutes when Young met Josh Daniels’ dangerous cross to head home at the far post.
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The home side controlled the opening 20 minutes, with Decic’s first chance of note coming when Luka Malesevic headed over the bar from a free-kick.
Former Aston Villa youngster Young doubled the lead with another header, although the goal was only confirmed after a lengthy VAR review.
Matija Bozanovic’s first time shot from a low cross into the area flashed past the post, but within two minutes Saints had further extended their lead as Davies pounced from close range as Decic failed to clear Ryan Brobbel’s corner.
Amid heavy rain at Park Hall, the visitors posted a warning of their threat with Drasko Bozovic heading wide while Connor Roberts saved to deny Bojan Matic in first half stoppage time.
Young continued to look threatening and forced keeper Igor Nikic into making a save while a Brobbel free-kick sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.
Decic captain Jonathan Dresaj fired another shot over while at the other end Nikic tipped Jack Bodenham’s goal-bound header over the crossbar.
The New Saints manager Craig Harrison told BBC Sport Wales:
“First half we were very good and I thought we could have scored four or five.
“Then we naturally dropped off and they had nothing to lose and had to try and get back into the game.
“We gave a b it of territory away but we defended really well, we were organised, worked really hard and got out with a clean sheet which I think we more than deserved.”