A trio of Israeli soccer teams played in UEFA Conference League qualifying with mixed results as Beitar Jerusalem picked up a late victory, Maccabi Haifa drew and Hapoel Beer Sheva lost in second round first leg qualifying action.

Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Sutjeska 2-1 thanks to a late Omer Atzily goal to hand the yellow-and-black the first leg win. Balsa Toskovic headed home the opening goal after Ori Dahan coughed up the ball right by the Beitar box to give the Montenegrin hosts a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute. However, Head Coach Barak Itzhaki’s squad came right back the other way and within a few minutes leveled the score at 1-1 as Yarden Shua nodded in a Dor Micha cross form inside the area. With Beitar pushing for a winner late in the second half, Atzily headed in a Timothy Muzie ball to take a 2-1 score into the home second leg next week that will be played at the Stadionul Ilie Oană in Ploiesti, Romania.

“We didn’t expect it to be an easy game,” Itzhaki said following the game. “I was here with Maccabi Tel Aviv a few years ago, we struggled and ended up with a goalless draw with 10 players. I knew it would be difficult and it’s not easy to play on the road. I’m happy that even though we were behind quite early, we were able to turn the score around and come away with a victory. Sometimes we like to underestimate rivals like this, but the games are tough in the Conference League, there are no favorites and of course you play on a rough field like this. The result was positive and we have a good lead going into the second match.”

Maccabi Haifa played to a 1-1 draw with Torpedo-Belaz in a game that was held in Szombathely, Hungary. After nearly a goalless first half, Abdoulaye Seck pounded home the ball in the box to give the greens a 1-0 lead deep into first half injury time. But just minutes into the second half Kirill Premudrov hammered the ball past Haifa keeper Georgiy Yermakov to knot the game up at 1-1 as the two sides will head into the second leg in what will be a Haifa home match in Kisvárda, Hungary.

Hapoel Beer Sheva fell to AEK Athens 1-0 as Filipe Relvas headed home the lone goal of the match off a corner kick to give the Greek side a slim lead ahead of the second leg which will be the southern reds home game to be played in Debrecen, Hungary.