City slick as Danish sides dominate

Manchester City FC were convincing winners away from home while the four Danish teams stamped their authority in the UEFA Cup with FC Nordsjælland, FC København and FC Midtjylland scoring no less than 13 goals between them on their travels. The second legs take place on 31 July.

EB/Streymur 0-2 Manchester City FC
Mark Hughes made a successful start to his career as City manager as Martin Petrov outshone new Brazilian signing Jô in the Faroe Islands. The Bulgarian opened the scoring with a thunderous shot after nine minutes, and the Premier League side underlined their superiority on 28 minutes as Dietmar Hamann connected with a headed clearance in spectacular style for his first goal in over three years. EB/Streymur improved after the interval but could not trouble City goalkeeper Joe Hart in front of a healthy 5,400 crowd.

Bangor City FC 1-6 FC Midtjylland
Substitute Kim Christensen scored a hat-trick within 15 minutes of coming on to help the Danish side to a handsome victory at Wrexham FC's Racecourse Ground. Despite the heroics of Bangor goalkeeper Paul Smith, the visitors took the lead in the 19th minute through Mikkel Thygesen. Les Davies equalised quickly before defender Winston Reld re-established Midtjylland's first-half advantage. Christensen quickly went to work after the break and by the 63rd minute had fired his team into a 5-1 lead before Thygesen wrapped up the scoring with 18 minutes remaining.

Cliftonville FC 0-4 FC København
København proved far too strong for Cliftonville at Mourneview Park, with central midfielder Hjalte Nørregaard opening the scoring in the 25th minute. The Reds stemmed the Danish tide until the final quarter of the match before Brazilian substitute José Junior doubled København's lead. Czech full-back Zdeněk Pospěch made it 3-0 before José Junior signed off with his second, and København's fourth, eight minutes from time.

FC TVMK Tallinn 0-3 FC Nordsjælland
The Danish visitors prevailed to leave TVMK without a win in 13 European games in their seventh successive season in UEFA club competition. Home keeper Vitali Teleš punched the ball to the feet of Johnny Lundberg to gift Nordsjælland a 29th-minute opener, and was then penalised for a foul in the area four minutes after the interval, with Martin Bernburg converting the resulting penalty. Bernburg beat Teleš again from open play on 86 minutes.

FH Hafnarfjördur 3-2 CS Grevenmacher
FH staged a comeback after going two goals down in the opening 25 minutes against their guests from Luxembourg. Thierry Steinmetz headed Grevenmacher into the lead before Dario Maric struck the second. That stirred FH from their slumber, with Tryggvi Gudmundsson earning and converting a 40th-minute penalty and Arnar Gunnlaugsson levelling after the break. Gudmundsson scored again in the 65th minute to give the Icelandic side a lead to defend in the second leg.

FK Vėtra 1-0 Viking FK
A freak first-half goal from Anatolie Ostap goal handed Lithuanian Cup runners-up Vėtra a slender victory over their Norwegain opponents. Viking put the ball out for a throw in the 14th minute with a Vėtra player lying injured, but as he attempted to return possession to the visitors, Ostap inadvertently lobbed Viking goalkeeper Thomas Myhre who had ventured off his line. Few opportunities followed thereafter, Vėtra's creativity subdued by the absence of suspended Macedonian midfielder Dejan Miloševski.

FC Racing Union Luxembourg 0-3 Kalmar FF
Swedish Cup winners Kalmar enjoyed a comfortable evening in Luxembourg with Abiola Dauda scoring twice. The Nigerian broke the deadlock after 32 minutes and his side rarely looked uncomfortable thereafter, although it took until eleven minutes from time for Dauda to score again with a wonderful lob from close range. Rasmus Elm then made it 3-0 in added time, with his free-kick taking a helpful deflection.

FC Honka Espoo 3-0 ÍA Akranes
The Finnish side made light work of their Icelandic guests, opening the scoring after 24 minutes, with Tero Koskela finishing from close range following a Hermanni Vuorinen pass. Four minutes later, Aleksandr Kokko was fouled in the area, allowing Roope Heilala to convert from the spot. Koskela set up Nicholas Otaru for Honka's third after 55 minutes, but ÍA goalkeeper Esben Madsen denied them a fourth, saving a Rami Hakanpää penalty nine minutes from time.

Glentoran FC 1-1 SK Liepajas Metalurgs
A header on the half hour mark from Michael Halliday kept alive Glentoran's hopes of progress in the UEFA Cup after a close contest in Belfast. The forward glanced in a free-kick from strike partner Gary Hamilton to equalise after Metalurgs had taken the lead 15 minutes in at the Oval, Pavels Surnins taking advantage of slack defending to score from the edge of the penalty area

Brøndby IF 1-0 B36 Tórshavn
B36 will return to the Faroe Islands with high hopes after conceding just once against Danish giants Brøndby. The home side dominated the first half without scoring, but broke the deadlock three minutes after the interval as Max von Schlebrügge scored from a corner swung in from the right. The home side created more chances, but were relieved to see B36's English forward Samuel Malson head an effort against the post.

JFK Olimps 0-1 Saint Patrick's Athletic FC
A 75th-minute header from United States-born striker Ryan Guy gave St Patrick's their first away win in UEFA club competition. Bottom of the Latvian Virsliga, Olimps were a man down after eight minutes when Andrejs Štolcers was dismissed for a foul on Stephen Paisley but the visitors failed to make use of their numerical advantage until Guy was left free in the penalty area 15 minutes from time to head Gary Dempsey's cross past Kaspars Ikstens.

Djurgårdens IF 0-0 FC Flora
Neither the Swedish hosts nor their visitors managed to break the deadlock at the Råsunda Stadium in the first meeting of the sides. Djurgården had most of the possession over the course of the 90 minutes but they were unable to convert their dominance into clear-cut chances with Flora rarely created anything substantial on the counterattack. Nevertheless, those travelling from Tallinn will arguably go home the happier and will hope to progress in Estonia in two weeks time.

FK Sūduva 1-0 The New Saints FC
Sūduva had only a late Sergiy Kozyuberda goal to show for their dominance against their Welsh opponents, with Bobi Bozinovski setting up the Ukrainian midfielder for a simple finish with 88 minutes on the clock. Povilas Lukšys, Ivans Lukjanovs and Ramunas Radavicius had all missed the target earlier as the 2007 Lithuanian A Lyga runners-up camped out in their opponents' half. TNS's best chance came in the first period as Michael Wilde's shot was almost deflected into the net.

Cork City FC 2-2 FC Haka
Cork fought back from two goals down at Turner's Cross to keep their UEFA Cup hopes alive. The visitors assumed command after Janne Mahlakaarto showed pace and rolled in the opener after 16 minutes before Toni Lehtinen made it 2-0 on 51 minutes to leave Cork with mounting problems. However, the hosts fought back with Dave Mooney flicking home a Danny Murphy cross just after the hour and, four minutes later, Dan Murray headed in his fourth European goal – a club record. He later hit the bar, as did Neale Horgan, as Cork were denied a winner.