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Aberdeen have it all to do to keep their hopes alive after a 2-0 defeat by Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie in San Sebastian.
Derek McInnes's men defended stubbornly in a goalless first half which was characterised by some wayward shooting by the home side. Midfielder David Zurutuza, however, broke through the red resistance in the 53rd minute before substitute Sergio Canales doubled that lead with a drive in the 68th minute and it might have been worse had keeper Jamie Langfield not made a save from substitute Imanol Agirretxe, who then missed another chance right at the end, with the woodwork also coming to the Dons' rescue. Hull City had to settle for a goalless draw on their competitive European debut as Tom Huddlestone missed a penalty and a point-blank follow-up against Slovakia's AS Trencin. The Tigers, having qualified for a first ever campaign at Europa League level by finishing runners-up in the FA Cup, should have come away from their third qualifying round first leg at Zilina's Stadion pod Dubnom with victory but will now need a result in England next Thursday. An hour had gone when Shane Long was felled in the area but Huddlestone -- who missed in the shootout when Spurs lost to Basel in the 2013 competition -- produced a dreadful double miss. His penalty was comfortably saved by Milos Volesak but it was the secondary attempt, grazing the bar from a couple of yards with the goal yawning, that will haunt the midfielder. St Johnstone stand on the brink of exiting the competition after defeat to Spartak Trnava at McDiarmid Park. Two goals from Ivan Schranz either side of half-time left the Scottish Cup winners facing an uphill struggle for next week's second leg in Slovakia. However, captain Dave Mackay's goal nearly three minutes into injury-time at least gave Saints some hope against Spartak, who finished third in the Slovakian top flight last season and were comfortable winners. Mainz beat Asteras 1-0 in Germany thanks to a goal in the 45th minute from Shinji Okazaki while French side Lyon won 4-1 away to Mlada Boleslav thanks to a brace from Mohamed Yattara and further goals from Maxime Gonalons. Torino eased to a 3-0 win at Brommapojkarna with Marcelo Larrondo scoring twice and Barreto adding gloss to the scoreline in a game that saw both teams go down to 10 men, and new signing Luuk de Jong was on target for PSV Eindhoven as they claimed a 1-0 win over SKN St. Polten
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