St Johnstone 2 Alashkert 1

Picture by Jeff Holmes

St Johnstone crashed out of the Europa League at the first qualification stage as they lost out on away goals, despite a 2-1 win over 10-man Alashkert at McDiarmid Park on Thursday.

Michael O'Halloran's powerful strike gave Tommy Wright's men a first-half lead and the tie looked to be turning in the Scottish side's favour when the visitors' Karen Muradyan was sent off after the break.

But Alashkert scored a decisive away goal when Norayr Gyozalyan netted with a chipped finish on 74 minutes.

Substitute Brad McKay raised hopes of a dramatic comeback when he made it 2-2 on aggregate with three minutes remaining, but the Armenians, who will go on to face Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan in the next round, held on as the hosts rued a poor second-half performance.

Bidding to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg, St Johnstone were nervous in a feisty opening 15-minute period which saw the referee hand out three yellow cards.

The hosts grew in confidence as the half progressed and Scott Brown forced away goalkeeper Gevorg Kasparov into a low diving stop with a long-range shot in what was the game's first meaningful attempt.

Good work from John Sutton and O'Halloran saw the Saints win a free-kick in an inviting position 25 yards out, but Steven MacLean wasted the opportunity by striking over the crossbar.

Moments later, an excellent run and cross from O'Halloran down the right had Alashkert in trouble and Chris Kane was only just off target with a headed effort after charging in at the far post as an opening goal started to look more likely.

The breakthrough arrived for St Johnstone on 34 minutes when Joe Shaughnessy kept an attack alive after the Armenians had only half-cleared a free-kick and Frazer Wright stabbed a low effort towards goal from eight yards out.

Kasparov got down low to save, but O'Halloran was on hand to power home the rebound with an impressive finish.

Alashkert responded strongly towards the end of the first half and could have netted an equaliser when Khoren Veranyan failed to find the target with a free header from Aram Bareghamyan's corner.

The tie looked to have turned in St Johnstone's favour on 64 minutes when the visitors were reduced to 10 men. Muradyan, who had already received a booking early in the contest, tripped Kane from behind and was given his marching orders despite strong protests.

It was Alashkert, though, who went on to create a golden opportunity just minutes after the midfielder's sending-off. Artak Grigoryan played in Mamadou Sekou Fofano, but the defender could only fire over the bar having ran a significant distance to support the counterattack.

The red card appeared to have inspired Alashkert and they found a decisive away goal 16 minutes from time. A long ball from Ararat Arakelyan completely caught out the St Jonhstone defence and Gyozalyan raced clear to lob Mannus.

The home side committed men forward in a bid to find the two goals they needed to progress, but it was substitute Mihran Minasyan, who scored the winning goal in the first leg, who had the next opening when he forced Mannus into action with a low strike.

Liam Caddis, who had come off the bench, forced Kasparov to parry with a long-range effort before the hosts kept their hopes alive when another sub - defender McKay - found the far corner with a clever finish when he found himself with an opening after a deep free-kick fell into his path.

That gave St Johnstone three minutes plus five minutes of stoppage time to find a tie-winning goal, but the closest they came was when Brown's powerful strike fell just past a post.