Crusaders suffered a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to exit the UEFA Conference League after coming from three goals down on aggregate, while Larne endured a difficult night at home in the Champions League.

Crusaders 3-1 Caernarfon Town (Caernarfon Town won 8-7 on penalties)
Already two goals up from the first leg, the Welsh visitors looked to have sealed the tie midway through the first half when a Darren Thomas corner wasn't cleared with Paulo Mendes pouncing to drive a superb finish beyond Jonny Tuffey's reach.

However, a quick fire double early in the second half well and truly dragged the Crues back into contention.

Ben Kennedy levelled on the night on 46 minutes after Caernarfon keeper Stephen McMullan - formerly of Warrenpoint Town - misjudged a Ross Clarke free-kick as the ball went past him into the net.

Then, three minutes after that, Daniel Larmour struck for the Crues with a header from a Clarke corner to well and truly set the tie up for a dramatic conclusion.

And Crusaders levelled on aggregate with just under 20 minutes of normal time remaining after James Teelan's long throw-in was met by Philip Lowry to fire into the bottom corner.

That was how it stayed at the end of 90 minutes and, indeed, into extra-time.

It eventually - and inevitably - took penalties to settle the tie, with Caernarfon eventually emerging 8-7 winners after a tense shoot-out sequence after Gruffydd John Williams knocked the decisive spot-kick past Tuffey.

Crusaders: Tuffey, Larmour, Weir, Blaney, Barr, Lowry, Clarke, Offord, O'Rourke, Lecky, Nixon subs Kerr, Boyd, Donnelly, Forsythe, James, Kennedy, Owens, Stewart, Teelan, Vance.

Caernarfon Town: McMullan, Owen, G. Williams, Sears, Mooney, Mendes, Gosset, Hill, Thomas, Lloyd, Clarke subs Thomas, Pritchard, Downey, Evans, Faux, Jones, M. Williams

Larne 0-4 FC RFS
Larne's Champions League exploits ended for another season with a four-goal home defeat to Latvian side FC RFS, losing 7-0 on aggregate across both legs.

Scoreless at Inver Park for most of the first half, the visitors moved in front on 38 minutes somewhat against the run of play after Brazilian Emerson Deocleciano cut in from the left to curl the ball past Rohan Ferguson into the far corner.

Then, six minutes after that, Darko Lemajic intercepted a Mark Randall pass on the edge of the box to make it 2-0 on the night.

And a third followed in first half stoppage time when Janis Ikaunieks was given too much time to smash a great finish beyond Ferguson.

The scoring was completed just before the hour courtesy of Ismael Diomande's rolled finish into an unguarded net after a through ball wasn't cleared by Ferguson or Cian Bolger.

Larne continue their European journey early next month when they move into the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League.

Larne: Ferguson, Ives, Donnelly, McKendry, Randall, S. Graham, Bolger, Cosgrove, Gallagher, Ryan, Lusty subs D. Graham, Altintop, Thomson, O'Neill, Bonis, Glynn, Brown, Sloan, Devlin

FC RFS: Ondoa, Balodis, Diomande, Ikaunieks, Emerson, Lemajic, Prenga, Mares, Panic, Markhiev, Lipuscek subs Steinbors, Vilkovs, Odisharia, Savalnieks, Ndjiki, Kouadio, Zelenkovs, Njie, Cucurs, Kigurs, Savic, Zaleiko