Anthony Limbrick pleased as TNS take Champions League advantage into second-leg

Ryan Brobbel's solitary goal was enough for Oswestry hosts TNS to see off the winger's countrymen Linfield, the champions of Northern Ireland, 1-0 at a sold-out Park Hall.

It was the Cymru Premier winners' first contest in Europe's elite competition since 2019 and an intriguing first qualifying round tie was tight throughout, with the hosts profiting from the game's only clinical moment in front of goal before the hour.

Limbrick, managing in the Champions League for the first time, admitted he would have liked to see his side work Linfield's goalkeeper more for the amount of possession and territory they enjoyed, but the head coach was satisfied enough taking a lead to the second leg in south Belfast next Wednesday.

"I thought overall, on the balance of play with the chances created and the territory we had, we grew into the game," said Limbrick.

"At half-time I thought we were the better team and at full-time I thought we just about deserved to win as well.

"They did have some chances, of course, I thought Connor Roberts was excellent in goal and also kept us in it in some ways when they looked to score. We did well to keep a clean sheet.

"It's a big night for the club, I knew when I came in we needed to improve on the season before.

"Winning the league gave us the opportunity to have nights like tonight, a big crowd with a lot of opposition fans and good for everyone at the club.

"I'm really pleased with that and to get the win we'll take it, definitely."

The Aussie added: "I think we should've probably worked the keeper more. We got into good areas and the ball dropped a lot in the box from set-plays, which we had a lot of.

"We needed to finish off the next phase of those and yes we're disappointed to only score one, we could've scored another, but our keeper kept us in it with a save, so to lead by one goal in this tie at the moment is a fair result."

TNS seldom looked in danger in their first competitive game of the season and spent large periods on top.

But Linfield threatened at the end of each half and the hosts were indebted to a couple of top stops from Connor Roberts to hold on to the lead.