Birkirkara were yesterday eliminated from the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup after suffering a four-goal defeat at the hands of APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus.

APOEL had already won the first leg in Ta’ Qali 2-0 with two late goals scored by Georgiou and Jovanovic. Thus Birkirkara were eliminated on a 6-0 aggregate.

Birkirkara held well in the first part of the match but conceded the first goal on 38 minutes through Alexandros Kaklamanos.

In the second half APOEL assured themselves of victory with two goals in the space of six minutes between the 53rd and 59th.

On 53 minutes Marios Neophytou doubled the score and six minutes later Kaklamanos scored his second personal goal to make it 3-0.

In the final minutes of the match Birkirkara suffered the fourth and final goal through Stavros Georgiou.

The match was controlled by Kralovec from the Czech republic.

Birkirkara will be back in action next Monday at the National Stadium, were they face local champions Sliema Wanderers in the BOV Super Cup.