Premiership

COMFORTABLE PROGRESS FOR BLUES

29 Jul 2021
football
© Brian Little/PressEye David Healy has guided Linfield into the Third Qualifying Round of the UEFA Conference League
Linfield are through to the Third Qualifying Round of the UEFA Conference League following a scoreless draw away to Bosnian outfit Borac Banja Luka.
 
The Blues carried a healthy four-goal advantage into the game but despite their hosts clearly needing to score a bagful of goals they were never really put under any pressure.
 
Indeed, it was a fairly lacklustre opening half-an-hour until Stojan Vranješ rattled a half-volley against an upright before the ball fell to safety.
 
The second half wasn't really much more eventful until the closing ten minutes or so when Chris Johns was called into action twice in quick succession to thwart Jovo Lukić and then Đorđe Ćosić.
 
Linfield will now face Luxembourg opponents Fola Esch, who defeated Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus 3-1 on aggregate, with the first leg at Windsor Park next Thursday.
 
Borac Banja Luka: Pavlović, Jovanović, Ćorić, Begić, Ćosić, Vojinović, Subić, Vranješ, Meleg, Moraitis, Zakarić subs Ćetković (not used), Lakić (not used), Kujundžić (not used), Uzelac (not used), Dujaković (not used), Lukić (replaced Moraitis 55), Čavić (replaced Zakarić 75), Kulašin (replaced Vojinović 67), Milojević (not used), Erić (not used), Živković (replaced Vranješ 75), Vušurović (replaced Ćosić 76)
 
Linfield: Johns, Newberry, Callacher, Millar, Hume, Manzinga, M. Clarke, Fallon, Mulgrew, Quinn, Palmer subs Walsh (not used), Williamson (not used), Roscoe-Byrne (not used), Nasseri (replaced Quinn 84), Pepper (replaced Fallon 79), Chadwick (replaced Manzinga 49), Salam (not used), A. Clarke (not used)