Birkirkara 0
Slaven Belupo 0
(Slaven win 1-0 on aggregate)
Slaven Belupo fended off the challenge of Birkirkara as the Croatian visitors held on to a goalless draw in yesterday's second leg at the Centenary Stadium to book their place in the next round of the Europa League with a slim 1-0 aggregate win.
Birkirkara again made life difficult for Slaven with a gutsy performance that saw them working relentlessly hard to score a vital goal that would have cancelled their first-leg deficit.
However, that breakthrough failed to arrive much to the relief of Slaven who now proceed to face FK Milano, of Macedonia.
Birkirkara bow out of the competition with their heads held high as new coach Paul Zammit still managed to produce the best from a depleted side, riddled with absences following injuries to some key players.
As expected, Slaven opened strongly and came close to scoring twice inside the opening five minutes but efforts from Alen Maras and Nicolas Nynkeu fell off target.
The Croatians kept up the tempo and on 19 minutes Mario Juric did well to slip past his marker but his shot was stopped by Omar Borg, the Birkirkara goalkeeper.
The hosts threatened on 22 minutes when Trevor Cilia sped clear on the right before sending an inviting ball towards Angus Buhagiar who, however, failed to connect with a gaping goal at his mercy.
Birkirkara were slowly coming to terms with Slaven's flowing game with the result that the visitors were finding it increasingly hard to create scoring opportunities.
Five minutes from the interval, the Birkirkara faithful jumped to their feet when Shaun Bajada unleased a powerful drive that gave keeper Rodic no chance. However, the 'goal' was annulled for offside.
Soon after the restart, the Stripes almost conceded a goal.
Bojan Vrucina stormed into the box before squaring the ball into the path of the unmarked Srebrenko Posavec whose shot was cleared off the line by a providential Patrick Borg block.
On 49 minutes, it was Birkirkara who should have taken the lead when Thomas Paris released Sylvano Comvalius but the Dutch forward hit badly with only Rodic to beat.
It was anyone's game now and on 55 minutes Vrucina traded the ball with Alosa Vojnovic in the box but the latter was stopped by the alert Borg.
As the match entered its last 20 minutes, the Stripes increased the efforts to try and level the tie. Slaven kept looking for gaps though as they sought to put the issue beyond the Maltese team's reach.
Eight minutes from time, Mateas Delic had the chance to settle the tie in Slaven's favour when he was set up by Alen Maras but his grounder was dealt with by Borg.
Four minutes from time, Birkirkara substitute Rowan Muscat, who had just come on for Paul Fenech, almost left an instant mark but his rising shot finished just over.
The Stripes kept pushing till the very end but it was not to be as Slaven held on to book their place in the next round.
Birkirkara
O. Borg, T. Paris ('89 C. Zammit), T. Cilia, A. Tabone, S. Bajada, P. Fenech ('84 R. Muscat), J. Zerafa, P. Borg, A. Scicluna, S. Comvalius, A. Buhagiar ('76 L. Sciberras).
Slaven Belupo
S. Rodic, R. Kaja, D. Poldrugac, A. Vojnovic ('60 M. Delic), S. Posavec ('74 M. Bilen), V. Puric, B. Vrucina, M. Juric ('89 M. Poredski), N. Nynkeu, A. Maras, C. Csizmadia.
Yellow cards: Borg, Vrucina, Sciberras.
Referee: Georgios Daloukas (Greece).