Larne’s Champions League debut ends in penalty pain

​The sole goal of the opening leg of the Champions League first qualifying round tie against HJK Helsinki arrived for the Finnish hosts inside the opening moments as Larne suffered early penalty pain.

A foul by Cian Bolger on Topi Keskinen led to referee Goga Kikacheishvili pointing to the penalty spot.

Bojan Radulovic converted from the penalty at the second time of asking.

The early drama continued when Radulovic scored initially but the referee opted for a retake – with the HJK striker making no mistake second time around.

Larne regrouped to avoid crumbling on the biggest stage of European football at the first time of asking against a club with experience from last season’s Europa League group stages.

Keskinen proved a threat but Larne worked hard to prevent HJK from extending the advantage.

Tiernan Lynch’s defending Irish League champions can draw confidence from opportunities to equalise before the return leg next week when Larne will face HJK at Cliftonville’s Solitude rather than Inver Park after failing to meet FIFA pitch standards.

Dylan Sloan’s curling free-kick was met by Leroy Millar but he could not steer his back-post header on target.

Millar – named Player of the Year across last season’s Irish League campaign – also came close off another effort with Sloan, once again, the architect.

A clever cut-back pass by Sloan was met from distance by Millar but the shot cleared the target.

Larne will also draw hope from efforts by Lee Bonis and Andy Ryan ahead of the Belfast second leg.

HJK HELSINKI: Ost, Soiri, Peltola, Tenho, Raitala, Tanaka (Kouassivi-Benissan, 64), Lingman, P.Hetemaj, Hostikka (Olusanya, 81), Radulovic, Keskinen.Subs (not used): Iliev, Ramula, Ollila, Toivio, Riski, Kanellopoulos, Ylitolva, Meriuoto.LARNE: Ferguson, Cosgrove, Want, Bolger, Donnelly, Glynn, Sloan (Kearns, 83), Gordon, Millar, Ryan (Westendorf, 86), Bonis.Subs (not used): Dowling, Omar, Farquhar, O’Neill, Maguire, Smith.Referee: Goga Kikacheishvili (Georgia)