Europa Conference League: Swift Hesperange 3-2 The New Saints (4-3 agg) - visitors out of Europe
- Published
The New Saints have been regular European competitors from the Cymru Premier
Declan McManus struck twice from the spot, but it was not enough for The New Saints as Luxembourg's Swift Hesperange ended their Europa Conference League campaign.
The Cymru Premier champions fell behind early in the second qualifying round second leg as Dominik Stolz hit home.
McManus levelled from the spot as Saints showed their battling qualities.
After Rachid Alioui and Simao Martins struck for the hosts, McManus added his second.
The visitors had fought back in the first leg to give them hope as they travelled to Stade de Luxembourg.
But Craig Harrison saw his side gift the hosts the ball in poor fashion early on and captain Stolz ruthlessly took advantage as he slipped the ball between Connor Roberts' legs.
Having equalised late on to ensure Saints went into the rematch level at 1-1 at Park Hall, Ryan Holding had a great chance to do so again.
But after Stoltz's opener, Holden and Ryan Brobbel hit the same woodwork as Saints sought a rapid response in vain.
They had to wait until the 22nd minute to hit back as Declan McManus struck from the penalty spot after Holden's run was unceremoniously and illegally ended by Martins.
McManus smashed his shot into the middle of the net, giving Geordan Duprie no chance to block it.
Morocco international Rachid Alioui broke the deadlock after the break as he squeezed the ball home and when Martins added the hosts, it seemed a long way back for Saints.
But McManus was given another chance from the spot and again capitalised to give his side renewed hope.
Swift Hesperange will face FC Struga, of North Macedonia in the third qualifying round after they beat Montenegro's Buducnost Podgorica 5-3 on aggregate.
Swift Hesperange and Saints sides had dropped into the Europa Conference League after Champions League exits.
Saints had been knocked out of the Champions League in a 5-1 aggregate loss to Sweden's Hacken while Swift lost 3-1 to Slovan Bratislava over two legs.
Craig Harrison, the Saints boss, told BBC Radio Shropshire: "No one wants to go out intentionally and make that mistake in the early part of the game and after that we've done so well.
"We really reacted really well. I've got to give hats off and credit to the players because it's quite easy then to go under - you get your heads down.
"But no, we came back and had a really strong 20-25 mins where we should have scored two goals.
"We scored a penalty and then we should have scored two more in and that's the difference about punishing (teams) in the top level of football and the fine margins, etc."