Swansea through to Europa League last 32 despite defeat

Swansea City are through to the last 32 of the Europa League despite producing a lacklustre performance in losing 1-0 to St Gallen in Switzerland on Thursday. The Welsh side knew that a point in north-eastern Switzerland would secure their qualification for the knockout stages from Group A but instead a second-half Marco Mathys goal allowed the already-eliminated hosts to bow out on a high. Nevertheless, the defeat did not prevent the Swans from advancing as Kuban Krasnodar failed to get the victory they required away to Valencia in Spain to stand a chance of grabbing second place. Paraguayan Lorenzo Melgarejo scored to earn the Russians a 1-1 draw after young forward Paco Alcacer put group winners Valencia ahead at the Mestalla, but Kuban bowed out. Swansea manager Michael Laudrup will be relieved at seeing his men go through to Monday's draw for the first knockout round after they failed to build on a promising start in Group A. The Premier League club won their opening two matches, but took just two points from their following four games and never got a grip of Thursday's encounter, much of which was played in thick fog. Perhaps still feeling the effects of serious travel delays on Wednesday which forced them to cancel their eve-of-game training session at the AFG Arena, they spent much of the game on the back foot. After a quiet first half, St Gallen grew as a threat after the restart, but visiting goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel made two good saves to deny Roberto Rodriguez before Sebastien Wuethrich hit the woodwork from a free-kick just after the hour. St Gallen then had a goal disallowed when Neil Taylor turned a cross into his own net but Wuethrich was penalised for a foul on the Swansea captain. Jose Canas cleared off the line from a Mathys header but Mathys turned in a low Wuethrich cross following a quick free-kick to finally put the Swiss Super League side in front with 10 minutes left. Substitute Pablo Hernandez fired just wide with Swansea's best chance late on but they limp through and will play European football after Christmas for the first time in their history. Meanwhile, last season's FA Cup winners Wigan Athletic were eliminated from Group D, eventually finishing bottom of the section after a 2-1 defeat away to Slovenian champions Maribor. In new manager Uwe Rosler's first game in charge, Wigan had to win to stand a chance of going through and a penalty converted by Jordi Gomez put them in front. However, Chris McCann was sent off moments later for a second booking after handling in the box and Dejan Mezga tapped in to equalise after his penalty had been saved. Zeljko Filipovic then put Maribor in front in the second half, and they held on to win despite having Ales Mertelj sent off late on. Maribor qualified for the last 32 courtesy of their better head-to-head record against Belgian side Zulte Waregem, who lost 2-0 to section winners Rubin Kazan. Former European champions PSV Eindhoven needed just a point to go through from Group B but were eliminated after losing 1-0 at home to Chornomorets Odessa, a solitary Franck Dja Djedje goal taking the Ukrainians through instead. Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv also qualified, finishing second in Group F after beating 10-man Bordeaux 1-0 thanks to a second-half Eran Zahavi penalty. Source: AFP