The New Saints suffered penalties heartbreak as they were eliminated from the UEFA Europa Conference League by Viktoria Plzeň.
Louis Robles gave the Tins a lead inside four minutes but Pavel Bucha levelled on the night just before the hour mark.
Forward Tomáš Chorý then put the hosts in front before Jean-David Beauguel completed the comeback with a fine curling strike.
Chris Marriott and Leo Smith missed their spot-kicks whilst Michal Bílek’s side converted all of theirs. Despite Danny Redmond finding the net, Paul Harrison could do nothing about Miroslav Káčer’s winning penalty.
Despite their exit, TNS should be commended for their first-leg result, given FC Viktoria Plzeň’s standing in European football. In 2019, they reached the Round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League and qualified for the group stages of European competitions eight times in the last ten years.
The Czech ouftfit are ranked 47th in UEFA’s club coefficients, higher than Scottish Premiership winners Rangers and seven-time Champions League winners AC Milan.
In the 2nd minute of the game Declan McManus played a ball in which Ludek Pernica caught comfortably.
A couple of minutes later, Danny Davies whipped a ball into the penalty area which Blaine Hudson headed to Louis Robles who scored past Pernica to give the Saints a goal lead.
Nine minutes in Pavel Sulc an attacking ball into the 18-yard area for Plzen that John-David Beauguel got on the end off, however the forward blasted the shot wide.
Not long after, Modou Ndiaye played a through ball into Beauguel but this time the Plzen forward couldn’t get a touch on it with Harrison collecting.
The Czech side kept knocking on the door just short of the fifteen-minute mark when Baloua passed a ball to Sulc in the box with another shot hitting wide of Harrison’s net.
Mid-way through the first half, Ba Loua had a ball played through to him and shot from 20-yards out as Harrison made a fine save.
Ten minutes short of half-time, Ba Loua had a shot from 2- yards away with Harrison collecting with ease.
A corner got whipped in for the home side just before the break. Sulc got a header away, however Harrison stopped the attempt.
At the start of the second fourty-five, substitute Tomas Chory had a shot for Michal Bilek’s side in the box that skied over the TNS net.
Pavel Bucha equalised for Plzen in the 56th minute after the midfielder went into the box and stepped over the ball twice before finding a gap and scoring past Harrison’s right.
Chris Marriott whipped a corner in for Anthony Limbrick’s team in the 70th minute, but the ball found it’s way safely to Hruska as the score remained 1-1.
Five minutes on, the ball got played over the top to McManus who ran in on goal and forced Hruska into a brilliant save the chance hitting the Plzen keeper and onto the post.
With the game coming to its conclusion, Pavel Bucha had a long range effort that Harrison manged to gather safely.
The match only had a short time left when the Czech side took the lead in the 85th minute when Dominik Janosek delivered a corner into the TNS box that Tomas Chory headed into the top corner of the net which left a nervous ending.
Plzen scored a third in the first minute of stoppage time when Beauguel got around Marriott and hit curling attempt past Harrion’s right that found the back of the net to send the game to extra time.
At the start of extra time, Ba Lou had a curling effort from outside the box for the home side that just went away from Harrison’s goal.
100 minutes in, blocks by Keston Davies blocked a shot from Ba Loua to keep the tie level with TNS defending for their lives.
Leo Smith had a go at goal from just inside the home side’s half with three minutes left in the first period of extra time that just went away.
In the second period of extra time, Chory thought he scored the winner as the ball was played in and the forward headed the ball into the net, though he was caught offside.
In the shootout, Marriott missed the first penalty followed Smith which proved to be the difference as Plzen won 4-1.
Chory headed the ball over the TNS net with a minute to go, as the tie went to penalties.
The New Saints: Paul Harrison, Chris Marriott (C), Blaine Hudson, Keston Davies, Danny Davies, Danny Redmond, Jon Routledge (Ben Clark, 108), Leo Smith, Adrian Cieślewicz (Jordan Williams, 65), Declan McManus (Dean Ebbe, 80), Louis Robles (Ash Baker, 89)
Goals: Louis Robles 4′
Yellow Cards: Paul Harrison 44, Danny Redmond 49, Jon Routledge 62, Dean Ebbe 83′
Viktoria Plzen: Ludek Pernica, Jean-David Beauguel, Matej Hybs (Joel Ngandu Kayamba 68’), Ales Hruska, Jhon Mosquera (Tomas Chory 30’), Pavel Bucha, Jakub Brabec, Milan Havel (Simon Falta 68’), Pavel Sulc (Ales Cermak 77’), Adriel Ba Loua, Modou Birame Ndiaye (Dominik Jonosek 30’).
Goals: Pavel Bucha 56’, Tomas Chory 85’, Jean-David Beauguel 90+1’.
Yellow Cards:Mosquera 5’, AdrielBa Louca 20’, Ndiaye 26’.
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