THE New Saints bowed out of the Champions League as Cypriots APOEL turned in a powerful second-leg display to book their place in the third qualifying round with a 3-0 aggregate victory.

The sides had drawn 0-0 at Park Hall last week and the Welshmen made it to the break in Nicosia without mishap.

However, Nektarios Alexandrou opened the scoring nine minutes after the restart when his deflected shot eluded goalkeeper Paul Harrison, and the Saints were up against it when Pieros Sotiriou doubled the home side's advantage with 17 minutes remaining.

Both the game and the tie were over deep into injury time when, after Brazilian Vander had been felled by substitute Steve Saunders inside the box, Tomas de Vincenti made it three from the spot to earn a clash with either Rosenborg of Norway or Sweden's Norrkoping in the next round.

Pictures by Phil Blagg / NWN Media