Siroki Brijeg draw, Saints face uphill climb

Wagner scored an injury time goal to hold St Patrick's Athletic to a 1-1 draw against ten-man Bosnian outfit Siroki Brijeg in their second qualifying round first-leg clash for the UEFA Europa League. The Dublin outfit, who beat IBV in Iceland in the last stage, made the perfect start in Pecara tonight when Christy Fagan opened the scoring in the 12th minute and their prospects of victory increased when defender Mladen Jurcevic was dismissed for a second bookable offence. However, Wagner popped up in the third minute of stoppage time to level the score and ensure there is everything to play for at Richmond Park next week. Northern Irish outfit Portadown, meanwhile, look to be dead and buried in the competition after they were defeated 6-0 by NK Slaven Koprivnica of Croatia. Nikola Rak scored a second-half hat-trick within the space of 24 minutes, but the game had long ceased to be a contest before then. Portadown were up against it from as early as the opening minute when Garry Breen put the ball into his own net before Tomislav Busic scored a brace with strikes in the 13th and 33rd minutes. Rak put his mark on proceedings with a superb treble after the interval to leave the visitors in complete disarray. Sligo Rovers managed to keep their score respectable, but they face an uphill battle next week after going down 3-1 at Spartak Trnava tonight. The Slovakian side were three goals to the good before the interval, with captain Miroslav Karhan opening the scoring in the 37th minute and Martin Mikovic grabbing a quickfire double shortly before half-time. However, Gavin Peers then netted what could prove to be a vital consolation goal heading into the return clash at the Showgrounds in seven days' time. St Johnstone also face a tough task if they are to reach the next stage of the competition after a 2-0 defeat by Eskisehirspor in Turkey. The Saints were second best for much of the game and a deflected goal in each half - the first coming from Alper Potuk with Veysel Sari adding the second - was enough for the hosts to take a decent lead back to McDiarmid Park for the second leg next week. From fifa