It had been almost three weeks since Djurgårdens completed their domestic campaign, yet despite a lack of competitive action, the Swedes showed little sign of rust, quickly asserting control against their Welsh counterparts.
For all their dominance of possession however, the visitors posed little threat to the Saints goal for much of the half.
Backed by a vociferous away following, Tokmac Nguen seemed the away side’s most likely threat, twice testing goalkeeper Connor Roberts.
With Saints offering little attacking threat in return, Djurgårdens made a deserved breakthrough late in the half when Adam Ståhl left his marker stranded with a swift cutback that allowed marksman Tobias Gulliksen to drift into the goalmouth and slot home.
Competing in their first ever European group stage, The New Saints had relied heavily on their ability to counter their opponents in their previous games, but the Djurgårdens defence barely broke sweat as the Swedes coasted through the second period untroubled, albeit with a slender one-goal lead.
Daniel Stensson sent a well-placed free-kick sailing harmlessly over the Saints crossbar as Djurgårdens failed to extend their advantage that would’ve effectively wrapped up the contest.
Only in the final 10 minutes did Craig Harrison’s side show any real attacking intent as they rolled the dice on trying to snatch an unlikely point from a tie, which in truth, should’ve been far beyond reach of the Welsh champions.
Djurgårdens therefore bank three more points to extend their tally to seven from a possible 12 to boost their hopes of progressing, whilst Saints have now lost six of their seven encounters against Swedish opposition to leave them with ground to make up in their quest to qualify for the knockout stages.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Tobias Gulliksen (Djurgårdens)
