FC St. Gallen are still hoping to qualify for the Conference League. After their 4:1 home win, the eastern Swiss side also won 1:0 away against Tobol Kostanai to advance to the next qualifying round.
Coach Enrico Maassen could afford to leave key players such as Albert Vallci, Bastien Toma and Chadrac Akolo on the bench. As Kazakhstan failed to put up a fight, St. Gallen had no trouble defending their clear lead from the first leg.
Scoring chances were few and far between for both sides in a largely uneventful game. The decisive moment came when the visitors were outnumbered after Tobol was sent off in the 68th minute. Five minutes later, new signing Moustapha Cissé scored the only goal of the game.
The team from eastern Switzerland did better than FC Basel, who had lost 4-3 to the same opponents in the same qualifying round last year. St. Gallen, on the other hand, can hope to play in Europe this season. To do so, they have to survive two more rounds. Their next opponents will be FC Riga or Slask Wroclaw, with St. Gallen enjoying home advantage in the first leg.
The telegram
Tobol Kostanai - St. Gallen 0:1 (0:0)
SR Hyytiä (FIN). - Goal: 73rd Cissé (Stevanovic) 0:1.
St. Gallen: Zigi; Faber, Stanic, Ambrosius, Okoroji (73. Noah Yannick); Görtler (59. Schmidt), Quintillà (79. Konietzke), Ruiz (59. Witzig); Stevanovic; Mambimbi, Geubbels (59. Cissé).
Remarks: 68th yellow card Essien (Tobol). 90th red card Galym (Tobol). Cautions: 58 Essien, 82 Stanic, 90 Miladinovic, 90 Noah Yannick.
