Uefa Europa Conference League first qualifying round, first leg
Stjarnan 2 Linfield 0
LINFIELD completed up a miserable 24 hours for Irish League clubs as they went down 2-0 to a dominant Stjarnan side in the first leg of their Europa Conference League first qualifying round tie in Iceland.
Emil Atlason bagged a double for the Icelandic side, one in either half, whilst Chris Shields missed a first-half penalty.
The defeat leaves the Blues’ hopes of qualification to the second round of qualifying hanging by a thread.
David Healy’s side struggled in the early engagements to find a routine, regularly being put on the back foot by the Icelandic side, and on 22 minutes it was no real surprise when the home side went ahead.
Stjarnan’s leading scorer in the domestic league, Atlason curled a beautiful free kick beyond the Linfield defensive wall and also Chris Johns in goal who remained rooted to the spot.
Just four minutes later, however, the Blues had a golden opportunity to draw level, when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on influential midfielder Kyle McLean.
Up stepped ‘Mr Reliable’, Chris Shields, who hammered his effort down the middle, but he could only watch in horror as his effort rebounded off the underside of the crossbar and was cleared to safety.
Linfield continued to battle strongly but failed to test the home side’s goalkeeper, and were almost punished when goalscorer Atlason almost scored twice before half-time, but it remained just the single goal in it at the break.
Just as Linfield were continuing to gain a foothold in the early stages of the second half, Shields conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own area on the hour mark that would turn out to be deadly.
Atlason’s free-kick rebounded off the Blues wall but found its way back to the forward who swung a left foot at the ball and watched as it took a deflection off a Linfield player and found its way to the net to the delight of the home crowd.
Twelve minutes later Healy’s men almost pulled one back when Kirk Millar’s cross-turned-shot was cleared off the line by Stjarnan’s defence. But it wasn’t to be for the south Belfast side and they have much to ponder before the re-match next week.
Stjarnan Rosenorn, Omarsson, Aegisson, Kristjansson, Ingimarsson, Orvarsson, Thorkelsson, Ingason, Kjartansson, Eggertsson, Atlason
Subs Olafsson (GK), Gunnarsson, Laxdal, Halldorsson, Birgisson, Valdimarsson, Adolphsson,Matthiasson, Gudlaugsson, Brink, Gudjonsson, Gudmonsson
Linfield Johns, McGee, Whiteside, Roscoe, McKay, Shields, McClean, Ballantyne, Milar, Cooper, McKee
Subs Walsh (GK), McBrien, Archer, Mulgrew, Fitzpatrick, McCullough, Annett, Chapman, Orr
