LONDON: Wolves marked their return to European football after a 39-year absence with a 2-0 home win over Crusaders of Northern Ireland in the Europa League second qualifying round on Thursday.
Diogo Jota and Ruben Vinagre were on target at Molineux in the first leg clash.
However, it was a nervous evening for the Premier League side with Vinagre’s goal only coming in injury time after a mistake by goalkeeper Sean O’Neill.
Rangers were also 2-0 winners over bogey team Progres Niederkorn at Ibrox.
The part-timers from Luxembourg dished out one of the biggest upsets in Rangers’ history when they dumped Pedro Caixinha’s side out of the same competition two years ago.
Joe Aribo and on-loan Liverpool youngster Sheyi Ojo were on the scoresheet in a game which saw skipper James Tavernier miss a second-half penalty.
Sam Cosgrove’s penalty earned Aberdeen a 1-1 draw against Georgian side Chikhura Sachkhere. The Dons trailed to a first-half spot-kick but Cosgrove kept his nerve to level midway through the second half in Tbilisi.
Shamrock Rovers came from a goal down against Apollon Limassol to win 2-1, with Lee Grace and Roberto Lopes on the scoresheet. The Cypriot side finished the game with 10 men after a late red card.
Connah’s Quay Nomads, who knocked out Kilmarnock in the previous qualifying round, face an uphill task if they are to go any further after losing 1-0 at home to Partizan Belgrade.
Last season’s semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt won 2-1 away at Flora while Strasbourg came from behind to defeat Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in France.
Torino were 3-0 winners at home against Debrecen while Espanyol comfortably saw off Stjarnan 4-0 in Spain with two goals each from last season’s top-scorer Borja Iglesias and Facundo Ferreyra.
Turkey’s Yeni Malatyaspor had a risky start to their first Europa League campaign as they drew 2-2 at home against Slovenia’s Olimpija Ljubljana.
Abanian side Partizani lost 1-0 to the visiting Moldovan team Sheriff Tiraspol and Israeli club Hapoel Beer Sheva beat Kazakhstan’s FC Kairat Almaty 2-0.
