Europa League: Cliftonville 0-1 FC Nordsjælland

Cliftonville were narrowly beaten by FC Nordsjælland in the first leg of their Europa League first-round qualifier.

Andreas Olsen's first-half goal was enough to clinch a 1-0 victory for the Danish side at Solitude.

Cliftonville's best chance fell to Garry Breen in the second-half but the defender was unable to steer his header on target.

The Reds must now try to overturn the defeat when the two teams meet in the return leg on 19 July.

Cliftonville boss Barry Gray had described the visit of the Danish Superliga club as a chance for his players to test themselves against a full-time team and the hosts showed no sign of inferiority as they immediately took the game to their guests.

The north Belfast outfit won an opening corner that was headed clear and Conor McMenamin also had an early header that missed the target.

But Nordsjælland soon found their rhythm with James Harney and Breen forced to make a series of clearances as the visitors began to increase the pressure.

The breakthrough goal came in the 19th minute after Godsway Donyoh pounced on a poor clearance and played a pass through to Olsen, who calmly finished past Brian Neeson.

The Danes continued to control possession for the remainder of the half without threatening to add to their tally as the Reds appeared happy to defend with bodies back behind the ball.

Neeson was called into action at the start of the second half when he made a spectacular save to deny Karlo Bartolec's goal-bound effort and from the resulting corner Donyoh's shot was blocked by Levi Ives.

The home side pushed further forward in the final half-hour and were almost rewarded when a quick free kick found McMenamin in space but his effort was deflected towards Breen, who could not keep his header on target.