HJK Helsinki advanced to the next stage of the Europa Conference League, but Ilves Tampere’s European adventure is over with a defeat in Sweden.

A night of high drama in the Europa Conference League on Thursday saw HJK Helsinki advance to the next stage of the competition while Ilves of Tampere crashed out.

HJK took a 1-0 first leg lead to Montenegro to face FK Dečić, and were leading 2-1 on aggregate as the game went into injury time. However, a 94th-minute goal for the home team sent the game into extra time and after 30 further minutes of stalemate, into the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.

The Finnish champions held their nerve from the spot, scoring four out of six efforts, with Dutch goalkeeper Thijmen Nijhuis proving to be the hero as he saved Dečić’s sixth and final effort to hand HJK a 4-3 shoot-out win.

The victory means HJK will play Klaksvik of the Faroe Islands for a chance to advance to the lucrative group stage of the competition. The first leg will be played in the Faroes on Thursday 22 August with the return leg in the Finnish capital on Thursday 29 August.

The winner of the tie will likely earn a minimum of 3 million euros from playing in the competition’s group stage.

Ilves lose in Sweden

While HJK fans celebrated in Montenegro, the travelling band of Ilves supporters in Sweden were left to rue some missed chances as the Tampere side lost 3-1 on the night, 4-2 on aggregate, to Djurgårdens IF.

A 1-1 draw in the first leg in Tampere left the tie evenly balanced, but a goal after just 12 minutes of the second leg by Besard Sabovic gave Djurgårdens an early advantage.

Ilves rallied however, and equalised when Roope Riski — who also scored the Finnish side’s goal in the first leg — pounced on an error by Djurgårdens goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström to level the tie once again.

With their shock win over Austria Vienna in the previous leg still fresh in their memories, the Ilves players and fans started to believe another upset was on the cards. However, two goals on either side of half time gave Djurgårdens an unassailable 3-1 lead and brought the curtain down on Ilves’ European adventure.

“This has been a huge experience for the club, the team and the individual players. But now our attention must turn to Veikkausliiga. We have an important match on Sunday [against IFK Mariehamn]. If we want to be able to play these games next year, we must also do well in the Veikkausliiga,” Ilves coach Joonas Rantanen said after the game.

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