Dundalk left with mountain to climb after loss at KA

Dundalk have it all to do to keep their European hopes alive after having defensive errors punished in a 3-1 defeat by KA Akureyri in their Europa Conference League second qualifying round first leg tie in Reykjavik.

Stephen O'Donnell’s side conceded with all three shots on target against them in the first half as Bjarni Adalsteinsson’s opener was added to by a Sveinn Margeir Hauksson double before the break after Daniel Kelly had briefly equalised for the Lilywhites.

Dundalk had rode their luck at times in the first qualifying round against Bruno’s Magpies but were punished for their poor defending by Hallgrímur Jónasson’s side, who currently sit in sixth place in the Icelandic Premier Division.

While they did tighten things up in the second half with John Martin unlucky not to score, they will have to produce something special now in Thursday's second leg at Oriel Park to set up a clash with either Club Brugge or Aarhus in the next round.

FULL MATCH DETAILS

The visitors could have been ahead inside the opening minute with Kelly breaking up the left past Dusan Brkovic before pulling the ball back to Johannes Yli-Kokko, who couldn't get the right connection on it to beat Kritijan Jajalo.

KA gradually grew into the game and were unlucky not to take the lead on the quarter hour mark when Dundalk failed to deal with Paetur Petersen’s free kick. The ball fell for Rodri, whose effort spun over off the crossbar after a last ditch challenge from Darragh Leahy.

Patrick Hoban then headed just over from Archie Davies’ cross on 21 minutes before Birgir Baldvinsson pulled an effort just wide at the other end four minutes later.

The lead goal then arrived on 28 minutes with Adalsteinsson capitalising on a slip by Andy Boyle after being