St Johnstone exited the Europa League at the first hurdle after a disappointing evening at McDiarmid Park.
Saints managed to secure a 2-1 win over Alashkert on the night, but their Armenian visitors were the ones celebrating as they progressed on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate scoreline.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg in Yerevan, Tommy Wright’s men would have fancied their chances of going through on home turf and those prospects looked good when Michael O’Halloran settled the nerves with an angled drive from inside the box in the 34th minute.
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Their chances appeared to increase still further just after the hour when Alashkert were reduced to 10 men Karen Muradyan seeing red for a second bookable offence.
However, it was disaster for Saints in 74 minutes when Narek Gyozalyan capitalised on a defensive lapse to lift the ball over Alan Mannus and make it 1-1.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=RaBZ1fV5nSU%3Frel%3D0
With the concession of that crucial away goal, Saints needed two goals in the closing stages to win and it proved too much of a mountain to climb.
Brad McKay did fire Saints ahead on the night with just five minutes left to set up a frantic finale, but Alashkert held on to book a place against Kazahkstan’s Kairat Almaty in the next round.
For a full match report and reaction, read Friday’s Courier.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0sWcOY2K0rI%3Frel%3D0