FC St. Gallen are through to the next qualifying round of the Conference League. After the 4:1 home win, the eastern Swiss team won 1:0 away against the Kazakhs from Tobol Kostanai.
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 mount a comeback, 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 opponent is the Polish team Slask Wroclaw, with St. Gallen enjoying home advantage in the first leg.
