St Patricks 1 Rijeka 0
St Patricks Athletic set up an Intertoto Cup second-round clash with Belgian side Gent with an away-goals victory over Croatian side Rijeka today.
The first leg eight days ago ended 3-2 in favour of the Croatians, but Rijeka were unable to take advantage of their territorial dominance after Charles Livingstone had given St Pats an early lead.
The opening exchanges were dominated by Rijeka, with Natko Racki and Blendi Shkembi both forcing saves out of Seamus Kelly. But it was Pats who struck first after 22 minutes when Livingstone ran clear onto Paul Donnelly's through-ball before rounding Matko Kalinic and slotted the ball into an empty net.
Rijeka continued to press forward and were unlucky on a number of occasions as a hesitant Kelly failed to deal with a number of crosses but it was Pats who continued to create the clearer chances.
The second half lacked the goalmouth action of the first as Pats hoped to hit their visitors on the break.
Sandro Klic shot narrowly wide with Kelly beaten after Goran Vincetic's cross had caused confusion in the packed box but that was as close as Rijeka came.
At the other end, Jer McCarthy missed a golden opportunity to seal the victory but with Kalinic to beat he scuffed his shot. But at full-time it didn't matter as the jubilant Pats side left the pitch to a standing ovation. -PA