Wagner goal halts St Pat's

The Dublin outfit, which beat IBV in Iceland in the last stage, made the perfect start in Pecara when Chris Fagan opened the scoring in the 12th minute and its prospects of victory increased when defender Mladen Jurcevic was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

However, Wagner popped up in the third minute of added-on time to tie the scores and ensure there is everything to play for at Richmond Park next week.

Northern Ireland outfit Portadown, meanwhile, looks to be dead and buried in the competition after it was thumped 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 was up against it from as early as the opening minute when Garry Breen put the ball into his own net before Tomislav Busic grabbed a brace with strikes in the 13th and 33rd minutes and Rak put his mark on proceedings with a superb treble after the interval to leave the visitor in complete disarray.

Sligo Rovers managed to keep its score respectable but it faces an uphill climb next week after going down 3-1 at Spartak Trnava.

The Slovakian side was 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 grabbed what could prove to be a vital consolation goal heading into the return clash at the Showgrounds in seven days' time.

St Johnstone also faces a tough task if it is to reach the next stage of the competition after a 2-0 defeat to 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 host to take a decent lead back to McDiarmid Park for the second leg next week.