Adriano strike fuels MyPa belief

Having marked their UEFA Champions League debut with a 1-0 victory against The New Saints FC last night, Myllykosken Pallo-47 coach Ilkka Mäkelä believes his side's "fighting spirit" will stand them in good stead as they look to finish the job in Wales next week and secure a date with FC København.

Adriano winner
A town with a population of 17,000 located 150km east of Helsinki, Anjalankoski had long been looking forward to this first qualifying round tie, with MyPa having won their first Finnish championship last October. The hosts made a determined start and worked the better openings of the first half, with Gerard Doherty the busier of the goalkeepers. The TNS No1 was finally beaten in the 58th minute when Brazilians Marco Manso and Adriano combined for the latter to score the only goal of the evening.

'Historical result'
"We might have hoped for another goal or two, but this was still a historic result for the club in our first game in the Champions League and it was good for us that they didn't score," said Mäkelä, whose team occupy seventh spot in the 13-club Veikkausliiga after eleven matches of the 2006 campaign. "I'm happy with the performance, we were more cohesive than we've been in recent league games. I'm also pleased with our fighting spirit, you could really see that the players wanted to win."

TNS hope
Mäkelä continued: "I expect TNS to give it a go next week but we have a decent chance of going through to the second qualifying round. Adriano had a really good game and worked very hard. His goal was important both for him and the team." After losing to holders Liverpool FC at this stage last season, TNS coach Ken McKenna will be keen to avoid a repeat in next Wednesday's return at Latham Park in Newtown. "I don't have any excuses for the defeat," he said. "The conditions were excellent for both teams."