Flora Tallinn 1-0 The New Saints: match report

Match Report

https://twitter.com/tnsfc/status/2080306118488703084?s=20

Yellow cards: D. Williams (90+1)
Substitutions: Farrell for Corness (58), Clark for J. Williams (58), Holden for Brobbel (58)

Match report by Sam Wood

A 31st-minute goal from Remo Valdmets condemned The New Saints to a 1-0 defeat against Flora Tallinn in Estonia

It was a positive performance, however, from Craig Harrison’s side, and they had a number of chances throughout the match to grab an equaliser.

Although it was a defeat on the night, the result leaves the Saints very much in the tie ahead of the second leg at Park Hall in seven days’ time.

Both sides had chances in the early stages in Estonia, but it took until the 12th minute for the first shot on target.

After receiving the ball from Rhys Hughes on the edge of the penalty area, Dan Williams sent a powerful strike at the Flora Tallinn goal, but a strong hand from Evert Grünvald denied the midfielder.

Down the other end, the home side had their first real chance of the night five minutes later when an effort from Sander Tovstik landed on the roof of Nathan Shepperd’s net.

The game continued in its end-to-end fashion throughout the first half, and Leo Smith and Hughes both had half chances for the Novira Cymru Premier champions.

Following a corner, captain Danny Redmond came to his side’s rescue with 27 minutes gone, as he was in the right place at the right time to keep out a powerful strike from Danil Kuraksin.

Konstantin Vassiljev’s side did eventually make the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark, however, when Remo Valdmets beat Shepperd with a well-hit strike from just inside the penalty area.

Just moments before the half-time whistle, it was almost two for the Estonian champions after some superb link-up play between Tony Varjund and Valdmets.

The latter went one-on-one with Shepperd, but the former QPR man raced out quickly to deny him.

The sides went in at the break with the score 1-0, but just five minutes after the restart, Flora had another chance to double their advantage.

Once again, though, the TNS goalkeeper was in the right place at the right time to deny Valdmets from the edge of the six-yard box.

On the hour mark, head coach Craig Harrison made a triple change, sending on all of Eoin Farrell, Rory Holden and Ben Clark.

Holden was involved almost immediately too, sending a header wide at the back post following a cross from Hughes.

In the 68th minute, Shepperd continued his player-of-the-match performance with another crucial stop – Kuraksin was the man on that occasion who was denied by the outstretched foot of the shotstopper.

Harrison’s side had a golden opportunity to grab an equaliser with 73 minutes gone, but after the ball fell kindly to Rhys Hughes inside the penalty area, the former Tranmere Rovers man’s effort on the turn was blocked by Ilja Antonov.

Almost immediately, the Saints were in again, but on that occasion, an effort from Dan Williams was deflected agonisingly onto the crossbar.

Although the Welsh side were unable to grab an equaliser in the closing stages, the tie remains delicately poised ahead of the return meeting in Oswestry in seven days’ time.

That match takes place at Park Hall on Thursday, July 30th, with kick-off scheduled for 6:30pm.