BALZAN-0, FK ZELJEZNICAR-2

Balzan suffered a 2-0 defeat to Bosnian team FK Zeljeznicar in their Europa League debut this evening.

Rijad Bajic scored an early brace for the superior Zeljeznicar who were dominant in the first half at the Hibernians Stadium but Balzan, who were missing two key players in Bojan Kaljevic and Ryan Fenech, did much better in the second.

They prevented Zeljeznicar from extending their lead and also played better in attack but their lack of firepower meant that they rarely threatened their opponents' goal with the Bosnians now clear favourites to advance after winning away from home.

Balzan's hopes suffered an early setback, as after only three minutes, FK Zeljeznicar opened the scoring. They were awarded a penalty after Clive Brincat was adjudged to have shoved Jasmin Bogdanovic inside the box as the latter tried to reach Ognjen Djelmic's cross from a free-kick.

Rajid Bajic made no mistake from the spot.

Zeljeznicar moved 2-0 ahead on 13 minutes as Rajic profited some hesitant defending to fire a low shot past Balzan goalkeeper Christian Cassar after Djelmic's run had unsettled the home team.

The Bosnians dominated the early exchanges and a couple of debatable decisions by Finnish referee Dennis Antamo didn't help Balzan's cause.

As the first half moved on, Balzan improved sufficiently to keep Zeljeznicar at bay but struggled to make their presence felt in attack.

Nine minutes from half-time, Zoran Kokot hit wide from outside the box. Cassar then prevented Zeljeznicar from adding a third goal when pushing away Djelmic's drive from the distance.

Balzan improved in the second half but their efforts were easily withheld by Zeljeznicar who themselves went close to increasing their lead through Kokot who hit wide from outside the box.

Scoring chances were rare in the second half but late on, Balzan goalkeeper Cassar did well to push Enis Sadikovic's dipping effort over the bar.