Hibs and OB enjoy flying starts

Hibernian FC of Scotland and Denmark's Odense BK are on course to face each other in the final stage of the UEFA Intertoto Cup after each convincingly won the home first leg of their second-round ties on Sunday. NK Maribor also took a step towards a meeting with Villarreal CF, UEFA Champions League semi-finalists last season, after winning at FK Zeta. uefa.com rounds up the action.

Hibernian FC 5-0 FC Dinaburg
Goals from Chris Killen, Scott Brown, Ivan Sproule, David Murphy and Steven Fletcher helped Hibs to an emphatic victory against their Latvian visitors. Although the home side dominated the opening period they had to wait until six minutes before the break to make the breakthrough when Killen converted from close range. Brown doubled the advantage four minutes after the restart when he sprang the offside trap before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting in. Sproule and Murphy added another two before Fletcher capped an impressive performance with a long-range free-kick five minutes from time.

Odense BK 3-0 Shelbourne FC
OB gave themselves an excellent chance of progressing to the next stage as Morten Fevang headed all three goals against the Irish challengers. The Norwegian attacker broke the deadlock in the 16th minute and added another in the 31st. His third, on 58, looks to have put the tie beyond Shelbourne, who saw Jason Byrne miss a penalty three minutes before the third goal.

FK Zeta 1-2 NK Maribor
Maribor of Slovenia enjoyed a fine away victory, Blažo Igumanović’s 80th-minute own goal ultimately proving decisive. With the match having been goalless for 76 minutes, it burst into life when Zajko Zeba fired in Maribor’s opener from 16 metres following a swift counterattack. Igumanović then put through his own net under no pressure before Slaven Stjepanović headed in Zeta’s goal in the 83rd minute from Ivan Todorović’s corner.

Tampere United 1-2 Kalmar FF
A 75th-minute goal from Miki Sipiläinen gave Tampere a glimmer of hope that they can still progress from this tie, although Kalmar's victory makes them firm favourites to advance on home soil in Sweden on Saturday. Sphetim Hasani was the star man for Kalmar, opening the scoring in the seventh minute and adding a second in the 69th. The Finnish outfit could have earned a draw had they not hit the woodwork once and wasted several presentable chances.

NK Osijek 2-2 Ethnikos Achnas FC
The Cypriot visitors fought back to draw in Croatia after Osijek had staged a fightback of their own. Marko Kmetec gave Achnas the lead after ten minutes, capitalising on an error by Osijek defender Damir Vuica. An own goal from Christofis Pashialis then saw the home side draw level in the 55th minute, and six minutes later they were in front through Aljoša Vojnović. Man of the match Christos Poyiatzis fittingly had the final say for Achnas, converting a cross from the right in the 70th minute.

Grasshopper-Club 2-0 FK Teplice
Goals from Demba Touré and Biscotte Mbala Mbuta gave Grasshoppers a deserved victory against Teplice. After a scoreless first half, Senegalese forward Touré broke the deadlock in the 48th minute. Twenty minutes later, the scoreline took on a more accurate reflection of the play as Biscotte doubled the advantage to give the Zurich club an excellent chance of sealing a two-legged victory in the Czech Republic on Sunday.

FC Nitra 2-1 FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipro will feel reasonably confident of winning through to the final round of the competition on Saturday in Ukraine despite going down to a narrow defeat in Slovakia. The away team went in front through Sergei Kornilenko in the tenth minute before goals from Róbert Rák (15) and Erik Hrnčár (32) won the first leg for Nitra.