Viktoria Plzen 3-1 The New Saints (agg 5-5; Plzen win 4-1 pens): Saints crash out on penalties

Louis Robles' early goal for Saints was still not enough to see off Plzen

The New Saints lost a thrilling Europa Conference League tie on penalties in the second leg away to Viktoria Plzen.

The Czech side trailed 4-2 from the first leg and fell further behind when Louis Robles struck after four minutes.

Pavel Bucha reduced the deficit and Saints again conceded in the 85th and 91st minutes, as Tomas Chory and Jean-David Beauguel goals forced extra time.

The sides could not be split and in the penalty shoot-out Saints missed their first two kicks to eventually lose 4-1.

Having been 5-2 up in the tie after Robles' opener, Saints know they let a golden opportunity to reach the play-off stage of a European competition for the first time slip through their fingers.

Plzen now advance to play either Bulgaria's CSKA Sofia or Osijek of Croatia for a place in the group stage.

New Saints boss Anthony Limbrick was able to name the same starting XI from the first leg for the return at the Doosan Arena.

Limbrick had said the Cymru Premier side would not sit on their two-goal lead and Saints were true to his word as they stunned their hosts within four minutes of the start, when Blaine Hudson was first to a free-kick and teed up Robles to fire home.

The Czech side nearly reduced their three-goal deficit through Adriel Ba Loua, but the Ivorian winger's shot was well turned round the post by Saints goalkeeper Paul Harrison.

With just 30 minutes gone, Plzen boss Michal Bilek turned to his bench, replacing holding midfielder Modou Ndiaye with the more attack-minded Dominik Janosek and going two up top as Chory came on for Jhon Mosquera.

The change invigorated Plzen but Ba Loua could only direct his header straight at Harrison, while the Saints stopper was also untroubled by Pavel Sulc's weak headed effort as half-time neared.

Saints nearly doubled their lead when Ales Hruska scrambled to turn away Leo Smith's in-swinging corner.

Instead it was the Czechs who hit back as Bucha fired home from the edge of the area after being picked out by Chory.

Declan McManus had claimed a hat-trick for Saints in last week's first leg at Cardiff City Stadium and should have added to his tally, but first shot straight at Hruska before hitting the post.

Plzen had scored two late goals in the first leg to keep the tie alive and history repeated itself when Chory scored in the 85th minute, heading in from a corner to make it 4-5 on aggregate, before Beauguel struck in time added on - curling the ball into the far corner to force extra time.

Saints lived dangerously in the first period of extra time, with a Bucha shot deflected over the bar and Jordan Williams clearing off the line - although a cheeky lob by Leo Smith nearly put them back ahead in the tie.

In the second period, Plzen thought they had scored only for an offside flag against Chory to dent their celebrations, with the same player then denied by Harrison's outstanding save to push the ball onto the woodwork and send the game to a penalty shoot-out.

After Beauguel had scored Plzen's opening kick, Saints skipper Chris Marriott saw his saved by Hruska.

The writing was on the wall when Smith missed the Welsh side's second penalty and although Daniel Redmond scored his kick, Plzen did not miss a single chance to win the shoot-out 4-1.

The New Saints manager Anthony Limbrick told BBC Radio Wales: "Of course we're disappointed but I'm proud of the players and staff.

"It was a huge effort considering the opposition, to take them to penalties was quite the achievement.

"When you play these top teams there's fine margins, we conceded late in both games and the players were dead on their feet by the end because they couldn't have done anymore.

"After the game I told them how proud I was, they fought to the end. Two years ago they [Viktoria Plzen] played Real Madrid and beat Roma in the Champions League, so this was a bit of a step up."