Mark Doyle's late goal keep St Pat's Athletic's Conference League hopes alive

Mark Doyle salvaged St Patrick's Athletic's European hopes with a crucial late goal, as the Saints fell to a narrow defeat at the hands of F91 Diddeleng in tonight's first leg Europa Conference League qualifier.

Goals in either half from Oege-Sietse Van Lingen and Yahcuroo Roemer looked enough to sink the Saints, who failed to impress their plans on this game.

However, Doyle popped up in the box in the 93rd minute to snatch a hardly deserved lifeline.

The result means two losses from two for Irish clubs in Europe this season, with Shamrock Rovers losing to Icelandic opposition night.

The last minute goal sparked wild celebrations among the 350 boisterous Pats fans, who travelled through London and Brussels to take over this small leafy suburb just north of the French border.

They can still harbour hopes of more European trips this year – that is if Pat's can muster a win next Thursday in Inchicore.

Progression will guarantee €550,000 in Uefa prize money – a fortune both clubs desperately desire.

While F91 have qualified for the Europe League group stages on two previous occasions (2018/19 and 2019/20), the club is currently in a state of flux.

The summer exodus of their manager and several players to Luxembourg champions Hesperange, coupled with the recent departure of financial backers and sponsors, has seen the club's budget reduced by 40% heading into this campaign.

Former Shelbourne player Jamath Shoffner has been hired for his first job in senior management, tonight's win his first game.

Only starting their pre-season campaign, F91 didn't appear as rusty Jon Daly and his side would have hoped.

The game failed to settle as the home side chased every ball, committing a flurry of fouls in the process. This, it turned out, was