Cercle Brugge 1, Kilmarnock 0 as Thibo Somers strike sinks Ayrshire side's brave effort in Belgium
dailyrecord.co.ukBruges was awash in blue and white as 2500 Kilmarnock flocked to the city - but there was no European triumph for the Ayrshire men as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Cercle Brugge - going down 2-1 on aggregate - in their Europa League second qualifying round tie.The hosts' skipper Thibo Somers was the matchwinner in a scrappy and at times frantic affair at the Jan Breydelsation as he gleefully slammed home after Liam Donnelly and Lewis Mayo failed to deal with a routine delivery into the box.While there was defeat, that doesn't mean there was nothing for the travelling fans to cheer about.
That moment arrived early on in the second half when Robby McCrorie guessed correctly and saved a Kevin Denkey penalty.That was as good as it got, though, as despite all their huffing and puffing the visitors just weren't able to find a breakthrough.
Defeat means they'll move down to the Europa Conference League and face Norwegian side Tromso in the third qualifying round - with the home leg at Rugby Park next Thursday.Derek McInnes elected to make two changes to the side from the first leg as last season's top scorer Marley Watkins was declared fit with Rory McKenzie also earning a starting nod.
They replaced Matty Kennedy and David Watson respectively.The travelling fans were making all the noise prior to kick-off and the away stand almost erupted just three minutes in.
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