Five-star Croatians send TNS crashing

THE NEW SAINTS ............ 1 RIJEKA ............................... 5

THE New Saints’ UEFA Champions League adventure is over after they were thrashed by Croatian champions Rijeka at Park Hall.

A brace from Mario Gavranovic and further strikes from Florentin Matei, Alexander Gorgon and Stefan Ristovski steered Rijeka to victory, but Adrian Cieslewicz did get on the scoresheet in what was TNS’ 50th European fixture.

The hosts were hoping Park Hall’s 3G pitch would give them an advantage, but Rijeka showed no signs of any struggles as they dominated the opening 10 minutes.

And the visitors created the first real chance of the game when Ristovski found space in behind the full back and set up Gorgon, but his goal-bound effort was deflected wide.

But, against the run of play, TNS managed to conjure up a good chance themselves. Scott Quigley did well to hold the ball up, after a long kick forward, before laying the ball off to Aeron Edwards, but his shot flew over the crossbar.

However, the Welsh champions grew in confidence and after a good spell in possession, they thought they had won a penalty, but instead were awarded a free kick inside the box following a high foot. Quigley’s fierce strike was then blocked as Rijeka cleared the danger.

But just as TNS were starting to find their feet, a moment of brilliance between Matei and Araujo dos Santos Heber saw Rijeka take the lead, which effectively killed off the tie.

Matei, who scored in the first leg, picked up the ball on the edge of the box and played a quick onetwo with Brazilian forward Heber before arrowing a shot beyond Paul Harrison, leaving TNS needing four to go through.

And the tie was definitely over 10 minutes into the second half as Gavranovic, who was only on the pitch for a couple of minutes after replacing Marko Vesovic, fired in a second from close range.

That seemed to open the floodgates as Gorgon added to the lead moments later. The attacker was given too much space and rifled a shot into the top corner.

The hosts looked deflated, but Rijeka continued to attack and a simple ball over the top allowed Ristovski to go one-on-one with Harrison and slot the ball home.

TNS did manage to grab a consolation as substitute Cieslewicz latched on to Jamie Mullan’s low cross to fire an unstoppable shot past Simon Sluga.

But Switzerland international Gavranovic completed the rout with a simple tap-in late on.