British team matches: Round 1 St Joseph's vs Larne DAC Dunajská Streda vs Cliftonville Bala Town vs Sligo Rovers HB vs Newtown Bruno's Magpies vs Crusaders Derry City vs Riga Round 2 St Patrick's Athletic vs (Winner of Sfîntul Gheorghe vs Mura) Motherwell vs (Winner of Bala Town vs Sligo Rovers) Round 3 Dundee United- Unseeded Play-off West Ham- Seeded
Certainly in this country I think we've all heard the jibes about playing "pub-standard" teams in the lesser European competitions. Personally I've always favoured European competitions and I think the Conference League has been a fun addition for some of the smaller nations but.. this year literally has what is for all intents and purposes a pub team I follow the qualifying rounds of each competition pretty religiously so you get familiar with quite a lot of the names that crop up in European football but 'Bruno's Magpies' of Gibraltar caught my eye following the draw for this. It turns out a group of regulars at a bar called Bruno's decided to form a football team. They're quite literally a pub team as far as I'm concerned: F.C. Bruno's Magpies - Wikipedia I always like to see the British / Irish teams do well but I will be rooting for the Magpies on this occasion Fun fact - I've been to that very bar!
I think Olimpija Ljubljana should won this. They have problems with coach and money but Luxemburg team defense is not so strong.
Sligo are Irish rather than British, although I like to see the Irish sides do well too. That said that win came against British opposition so still not great that one has to go out. Anyway.. Still not a great round for the Brits but some got a little redemption last night and won the second leg. Crusaders overcame the pub team I was rooting for, whilst Newtown and Sligo went through on penalties. Next round for the Brits / Irish Vikingur Reykjavik v The New Saints St Patrick's Athletic v NS Mura Spartak Trnava v Newtown Motherwell v Sligo Rovers Basel v Crusaders It'll be interesting to see how Motherwell get on, I think that's a potentially tricky game for them. I think The New Saints have a chance but the others are probably all going out. Basel in particular is a particularly harsh draw at this stage of this competition. Dundee United join in the next round with the draw done on Monday.
Fair play to the Irish sides, some big results last night. Sligo dumped Motherwell out which is a pretty damning result as far as the Scots are concerned - once again it's probably going to be all on the Glasgow clubs to offer anything to the Scottish coefficients. St Patrick's Athletic dumping out a team that beat Spurs last season is impressive too. Spurs should never have lost to a team of that stature but they're obviously no pushovers. Otherwise a rubbish night for the Brits. Next round for the Brits / Irish Viking v Sligo Rovers CSKA Sofia v St Patrick's Athletic Dundee United v AZ Alkmaar West Ham enter in the next qualifying round with the draw done on Tuesday. Shamrock Rovers, Linfield and Hearts are ones to watch in Europa League qualifying too.
Not the greatest performance but good night for West Ham. Some shock results elsewhere in the round too. Bundesliga and Ligue 1 sides both at risk of going out.
