KuPS 2-3 Vardar (AET) - KuPS win 4-3 on aggregate
KuPS will meet either Sabah of Azerbaijan or The New Saints from Wales in the second round of qualifiers, with the first leg away from home scheduled for 21st or 22nd July before returning to Kuopio for the second leg on 28th or 29th July.
The hard work looked to have been done in the first leg, where goals either side of half-time from Brahima Magassa and Bob Armah ensured KuPS left Skopje with a 2-0 lead to take home.
Yet, most of that work could have been undone within four minutes this time had Boban Nikolov been more accurate with an early sight of goal.
That was the closest Vardar came in a first half which saw neither side produce a shot on goal of relevance, though a decent chance for Jaime Moreno was blocked and Armah sent an effort narrowly over the bar in what were KuPS' best moments before the break.
Early in the second half, Petteri Pennanen became the next KuPS player to fail to put the tie to bed, and that came back to haunt the Finnish side when Saku Savolainen diverted the ball into his own net just before the hour mark to put Vardar ahead on the night.
KuPS looked to have gone unpunished in the 87th minute when Gerson Rodrigues went down inside the area, but three minutes later the referee pointed to the penalty spot to hand Vardar the chance to level late on.
Goran Zakaric took the responsibility and beat Johannes Kreidl from 12 yards to send the game to extra time.
But the 30-minute period was where the home side finally came alive - in the 100th minute, Clinton Antwi notched his second assist of the tie by slotting the ball through to Armah, who fired into the roof of the net.
The lead in the tie lasted all of two minutes, as the Macedonian side hit back via a Zakaric cross headed home by Ian Puleio. However, the tie took just two more minutes to swing again, as Puleio was guilty of a handball inside the box, and Piotr Parzyszek struck the penalty into the net, putting KuPS 4-3 up in the tie, trailing 3-2 on the night.
That looked to have finally ended Vardar's hopes, as it was KuPS pushing for anothe goal late on through Antwi and Saikou Touray, but the Kuopio side had done just enough in a pulsating clash.
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