Balzan were eliminated from the UEFA Europa Conference League after a scoreless draw at Ta’ Qali, with Oliver Spiteri’s side bowing out on a 2‐0 aggregate. The 2‐0 defeat suffered in Belarus seven days ago was too much for Balzan to recover against a Neman Grodno side which was surely the better team.

Balzan played a diligent match yesterday but could rarely find a way past the Grodno defence. Needing at least two goals to cancel the deficit, Balzan found the going hard and although in full control of the match they failed to at least gain a platonic win against a superior outfit. However Balzan can consider this year’s European participation as a positive experience.

Balzan went in search of an early goal and had a couple of efforts from Andrejic and Tor‐ res, both missing the target. However Balzan’s aggressive start slowly faded away and al‐ though keeping possession of the ball and the game in hand, Balzan rarely gave the impression they could forge ahead.

Five minutes from the break Balzan’s best chance when An‐ drejic, put through by an excel‐ lent Jake Grech pass, failed to beat Rudzenok from an ideal position.

The game plan did not change much in the second half with Balzan in control but failing to score that goal that would have opened up the game. In a rare Grodno at‐ tack, Yakimov tested Golovic who had to be at his best to keep his net intact.

Balzan had another good op‐ portunity on 72 minutes with Samir Arab’s effort hitting the side netting.

In the final minutes Grodno almost snatched a winner when Yakimov’s header beat Golovic, but Prates cleared the ball off the goal line.

Photo: Domenic Aquilina