The New Saints 0 Copenhagen 2 - Report and pictures

Former Wolves boss Stale Solbakken's charges were expected to beat Scott Ruscoe's outfit in this second qualifying round first leg and did so through a Pieros Sotiriou tap-in and a Robert Skov penalty.

It means the Welsh champions need to pull off an unlikely big victory against the Danish top-flight title-holders at 38,000-capacity Parken Stadium next Wednesday to extend their stay in the competition.

The Oswestry club's European involvement will continue regardless, though, as if they lose, they will enter the Europa League third qualifying round and face either Valur Reykjavik or Ludogorets.

Red Star Belgrade or HJK Helsinki await if they pull off a massive upset in Denmark.

Saints' hero of the last round, Dean Ebbe - who came off the bench to clinch a 1-0 win against Feronikeli in Kosovo after the first leg ended 2-2 - was given the nod up front instead of Greg Draper.

Skov - linked with Wolves earlier this summer - and former Hull striker Dame N'Doye were in the Copenhagen starting line-up.

The home side started sharply, and Ryan Brobbel, inside the first couple of minutes, beautifully controlled an Aeron Edwards through-ball to create a shooting opportunity.

However, his strike from just inside the box sailed high and wide. Brobbel, head in hands, knew he should have tested Sten Grytebust.

And the Saints were soon made to pay. It seemed luck was on their side when Victor Nelsson, somehow, steered the ball wide from point-blank range after a low corner.

Copenhagen made up for that miss with their next attack, in the 16th minute, though, as Sotiriou got ahead of his marker to tap in Skov's delivery from the right.

Ruscoe's men were always the underdogs going into this clash, and they barely touched the ball for the rest of the half. A rare foray forward saw Adrian Cieslewicz cut in from the left flank and blaze past the far post.

Copenhagen were firmly in control but only one to the good, so Saints made a change in search of an equaliser - Draper coming on for Ebbe - just before the hour mark.

Instead, though, the visitors doubled their advantage. Sotiriou was brought down by Keston Davies inside the box as he got a shot off.

Davies picked up a booking, Sotiriou was stretchered off, and Skov coolly converted the spot-kick.

Now two down, it was time for the hosts to take a few more risks. Draper's cut-back found Jon Routledge, but his effort flew well over the crossbar and Copenhagen were not tested again.

Saints gave a good account of themselves, but the away team were just too strong.

Teams

TNS (4-2-3-1): Harrison; Spender, Davies, Harrington, Redmond; Edwards, Routledge; Mullan, Brobbel, Cieslewicz (Nembhard, 75); Ebbe (Draper, 56)

Subs not used: Roberts (gk), Marriott, Hughes, Byrne, Whitehouse

Copenhagen (4-4-2): Grytebust; Bartolec, Papagiannopoulos, Nelsson, Bengtsson; Skov, Falk (Zeca, 35), Stage, Holse; Sotiriou (Fischer, 61), N'Doye (Wind, 46)

Subs not used: Johnsson (gk), Varela, Bjelland, Thomsen

Goals: Sotiriou (16), Skov (60)