CSKA Sofia break Saints' hearts in red heat of Tallaght

St Patrick's Athletic's European season was brought to an following a 2-1 aggregate defeat to CSKA Sofia in their Europa Conference League third-round qualifier at Tallaght Stadium.

The Saints brought a 1-0 lead to west Dublin and they created plenty of chances throughout an open game.

But their failure to find the back of the net came back to haunt them as the Bulgarian side did enough to claim the victory with a late penalty by Ivan Turitsov completing the turnaround.

It was a tetchy affair in front of 6,760, with no fewer than 10 yellow cards handed out by Romanian referee Horatiu Fesnic.

After the full-time whistle it all spilled over, with extended squads from both sides involved in a fracas in front of the Pat's supporters, which resulted in the referee brandishing more cards.

Pat's had been the outsiders, even with the advantage before Thursday's game. Tim Clancy elected to stick with the same 11 who had delivered last week's historic result, but the visitors made no fewer than five changes as they looked to chase the game.

And it only took them 12 minutes for the new-look side to draw the tie level. It was a soft one for Pat's after all the hard work on the other side of Europe last time out. A corner from the left from Thibaut Vion was headed home by Mauricio Garcez from five yards without much attention from any Pat's player.

It should have been two 10 minutes later but this time Garcez's effort, after getting onto Brayan Moreno's cross from the right, was outside the near post.

This seemed to spur Pat's into life and Adam O'Reilly had a glorious chance to draw them level on the night in the 24th minute. Billy King played in the deft pass, but Gustavo Busatto had been quick off his line, and he spread himself to keep