Chelsea moved to within one win of the Conference League last 16 with a 2-0 victory away to Heidenheim to maintain their perfect start in the competition.
Christopher Nkunku and Mykhailo Mudryk scored the goals in the second half, Jadon Sancho’s cut-back shortly after the interval finding the France international who fired in his 11th of the season, then Mudryk finishing things late on with a lovely strike into the top corner.
Frank Schmidt has spent 17 years as the manager of Heidenheim, leading them from the fifth tier of German football to the Bundesliga and into Europe, and they defied their humble status to give Enzo Maresca’s side, who had Cesare Casadei sent off in stoppage time, their toughest challenge this season in Europe.
The breakthrough arrived five minutes after the interval. Axel Disasi put in a bullish challenge to win the ball in midfield, allowing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to take up possession. He worked it wide on the right to Sancho, whose cross was collected via a deft first touch by Nkunku who crashed it into the far corner.
Their lead was nearly whipped away from them within minutes. The defence dithered on the edge of the box and the ball broke to Léo Scienza who lashed it low and hard, first time towards the bottom corner, but Filip Jörgensen saved.
The goalkeeper, being given a thorough examination, pulled off an outstanding block to deny Paul Wanner when the 18-year-old went clean through in the 69th minute.
The offside flag saved Chelsea after Maximilian Breunig’s header found the top corner. But the visitors would have the last word, Mudryk meeting Sancho’s low cross with a brilliant, rising effort into the roof of the net four minutes from time.
Lawrence Shankland’s miserable season in front of goal continued as the Hearts striker missed a penalty during a 2-0 defeat against Cercle Bruges.
The skipper squandered a chance to level the scores in the 82nd minute when he fired the ball over the bar. After scoring 33 goals for club and country last season, the Scotland forward has netted only once in 20 appearances in a frustrating campaign.
Cercle Brugge took the lead in the 40th minute, working a man over on the right side of the penalty box. Malamine Efekele mis-hit his first-time shot but the effort wrong-footed Gordon and spun into the corner of the net.
After Shankland’s missed penalty, given after handball by Edgaras Utkus, the game was finally out of reach for the visitors following a last-minute corner. Gordon made a good initial save but was beaten by a major deflection as Gary Magnée’s shot went in off the Hearts substitute Daniel Oyegoke.
Hearts remain on six points from four matches with games against Copenhagen and Petrocub to follow.
The New Saints saw their hopes of making the knockout phase dented by a 1-0 home defeat by Djurgården.
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Tobias Gulliksen struck the winner four minutes before half-time for the Swedish visitors, who monopolised possession and scoring opportunities against the Welsh champions.
Defeat at their Conference League base in Shrewsbury leaves TNS with an uphill battle to extend their European campaign beyond fixtures against the Greek giants Panathinaikos and the Slovenian side Celje in December.
Shamrock Rovers maintained their unbeaten Conference League record by earning an outstanding 1-1 draw against Rapid Vienna in Austria. The League of Ireland Premier Division side had won two and drawn one of their first three games, and they produced another impressive display to deny the two-time European Cup Winners’ Cup runners-up maximum points.
Nenad Cvetkovic gave Rapid an early lead but they could not extend their advantage despite dominating first-half possession, and Johnny Kenny netted a 55th-minute equaliser from close range following Josh Honohan’s cross. It was a strong recovery by Stephen Bradley’s team, and Kenny went close to claiming a second goal 11 minutes from time before Rapid scrambled the ball to safety.
Larne’s hopes of reaching the Conference League knockout stage were all but ended after a 1-0 defeat away to Slovenian side Olympia Ljubljanawhere they finished with 10 men.
The Northern Irish side were playing a first match since the departure of manager Tiernan Lynch to Derry City. Olimpija’s pressure told when substitute Ivan Durdov headed home from a corner in the 67th minute. With nine minutes left, Sean Graham was shown a second yellow card as Larne were left bottom of the Conference League table after a fourth straight European defeat, while Olimpija moved up into the qualification places.
