Heartbreak for The New Saints as run comes to end

An early goal by Louis Robles extended the aggregate lead for Saints to 5-2 – but Viktoria Plzen hit back to win 3-1 on the night as they left it late to send the tie into extra time.

Saints still led 5-3 on aggregate as the match moved into the final five minutes. But the hosts then struck twice, with the goal that made it 5-5 on aggregate arriving in stoppage time.

With no addition to the scoreline in extra time, it all came down to penalties, with Saints beaten 4-1 on spot kicks.

An early goal from Robles from close range gave Saints the perfect start at the Doosan Arena. Pavel Bucha equalised early in the second half with a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Saints so nearly regained the lead 15 minutes from time when Declan McManus, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-2 first leg victory at the Cardiff City Stadium, saw his effort turned onto a post by goalkeeper Ales Hruska.

With Saints closing in on victory over the two legs, Tomas Chory made it 2-1 to the home side when he headed in an 85th minute corner. More drama followed when, a minute into stoppage time, Jean-David Beauguel curled a shot to the far corner of the net to take the tie to extra time. Viktoria Plzen, who beat Roma 2-1 and lost by the same scoreline to Real Madrid in the group stages of the Champions League in the 2018-19 season, converted all four of their spot kicks in the penalty shootout.

Danny Redmond scored for Saints, but Chris Marriott saw his penalty saved and Leo Smith also missed, as Anthony Limbrick’s side saw their impressive European run come to an end.

TNS: Harrison, D. Davies, K. Davies, Hudson, Marriott, Smith, Routledge (Clark), Redmond, Robles (Baker), McManus (Ebbe), Cieslewicz (J. Williams). Subs not used: Brobbel, Bradford, Canavan, Daykin, Rees, Cornish, Roberts.