Prishtina beat Nomads in first leg of Europa Conference League

Connah's Quay Nomads lost out by four goals to one in their first leg Europa League Conference tie against Prishtina FC in Kosovo on Tuesday evening.

Goals from Leotrim Bekteshi, Endrit Krasniqi and Oto John gave the Kosovan side a 4-1 lead ahead of the return tie next week at Park Avenue, Aberystwyth.

• Nomads traveled to Kosovo for inaugural Europa League Conference tie
• Prishtina broke deadlock late in the first half thanks to Bekteshi bullet header
• Substitute Oto John gave Prishtina a 2-0 lead early in the second half
• Impressive Tom Moore free kick brought Nomads back into the game
• Nomads denied penalty by Albanian officials at crucial moment
• Finishes from Krasniqi and John handed the hosts a first leg victory

The game was Nomads' second European fixture in just six days, following their narrow loss to Armenian champions Alashkert with a 112th minute goal in the Champions League, meaning that the team had traveled more than 6000 miles in under a week.

This result saw the club entered into the newly formed Europa Conference League for the first time, which saw them drawn against Prishtina following their Champions League Qualifying Round One loss to Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros.

Ahead of the game, a surprising decision was made to appoint an Albanian team of officials, despite 93% of the population of the nation of Kosovo being made up by Albanian nationals, with a number of Albanian flags visible both inside and outside of the ground.

The refereeing team, led by Eldorjan Hamiti, would go on to be at the centre of some key moments in the match.

Andy Morrison handed starts to George Horan who returned to the squad alongside Tom Moore who had made his full European debut in the previous round, as well as a club debut for goalkeeper Kai Calderbank-Park.

His counterpart Zekirija Ramadan meanwhile started a host of senior players, including Kosovar-Albanian Xhevdet Shabani, Albanian-born defender Gledi Mici and Kosovar-Albanian Besnik Krasniqi.

The game started and Prishtina looked to press Nomads quickly, but Connah's Quay quickly established their disciplined defensive shape to limit their chances on goal.

This led to a lot of possession for the Kosovan side, but without them seriously threatening Calderbank-Park in goal during the early stages of the match.

After 10 minutes, Nomads were also creating chances with George Horan nearly getting a header on target from the edge of the Prishtina area in the 14th, and Jamie Mullan whipping a cross close to the host's goal where it narrowly evaded both Jamie Insall and Aeron Edwards.

With nearly 20 minutes played, Connah's Quay's game plan was paying off, as they were holding the Kosovan champions whilst building up their possession in the opposition's half.

This was seen in the 24th when Craig Curran had a volley on goal from 25 yards out as defenders approached him, and on 27 minutes when Tom Moore burst into the Prishtina half with a powerful run from his own area.

As they went toe to toe with Prishtina, Nomads found themselves with three players booked in the first half despite their protests against the decisions, as Eldorjan Hamiti showed yellow to Kris Owens, Callum Morris and Jamie Insall, as well as Manager, Andy Morrison.

As half time approached, the first 45 looked set to end goalless in a fair reflection of Nomads' resilient performance so far, but a Bekteshi goal in the 41st minute put paid to prospect of a 0-0 scoreline at the break.

From a Shabani corner kick, Bekteshi met the ball with a bullet header to give Prishtina a narrow 1-0 lead at the interval in the Stadiumi Fadil Vokkri.

Prishtina came out in the second half and quickly resumed their attacking game, going 2-0 up in the 53rd minute thanks to a low strike from Oto John who had replaced the injured Leutrim Kryeziu after a clash with Kris Owens.

This early second half goal gave Nomads a big challenge to get back into the game, and they did well to keep the tie tight with Moore heading just over from a Mullan cross in the 57th minute.

Then on 64 minutes, they had another good opportunity to reduce deficit when Horan flicked a header down to Craig Curran, who sent a low first-time effort just wide from around seven yards.

As the game approached the 70th minute, Connah's Quay were in the thick of a close battle, seen when Aeron Edwards was booked for a challenge on the edge of the Nomads' area, with Prishtina finishing the game with two yellow cards to Nomads' four.

The resulting free kick was sent on target by Shabani, but Calderbank-Park met the effort with a solid save.

Then in the 74th minute, Nomads brought themselves back into the game thanks to a pile drivin free kick from around 23 yards by Tom Moore, who sent it hard and low to beat goalkeeper Ardit Nika at his near left post.

With score 2-1 and still 15 minutes to play, Nomads were in a strong position to battle on and look to send the tie level.

But a frantic couple minutes followed, as Prishtina restored their two goal cushion with a curling effort from Endrit Krasniqi to make it 3-1 on 78 minutes.

Just 60 seconds later, a blunder from keeper Nika saw him run out and miss the ball completely, leaving Aron Williams clear to run through towards an open goal. However, before he could reach and shoot, he was held back by the keeper, leading to claims for a penalty from the Nomads players and bench.

To their dismay, referee Hamiti waved play on, with the Connah's Quay bench protesting that they'd been denied a chance to a stonewall spot kick and potential red card along with the chance to tighten the tie once again.

Into the final ten minutes of the first leg, Nomads were working hard to keep the Kosovan champions at bay, but were dealt a cruel blow in the 93rd minute when Oto John poked home to secure his brace and make it 4-1.

Nomads travelled back from Kosovo feeling a different result could've been secured had key decisions from the officials team not gone against them, as attentions turn to the second leg tie next Thursday 29th July for a 7:30pm kick off.

Match Photos