Former Rangers kid Chris McKee played a major role as Linfield reached the Champions League second qualifying round in dramatic fashion at the expense of TNS.
David Healy's men were on the verge of elimination at the first hurdle with the Welsh outfit holding a 1-0 lead from the first-leg but a wonder strike in the 94th minute of normal time from Jamie Mulgrew forced this one into extra-time. With the tie poised at 1-1 on aggregate and the home side clearly boosted from their late leveller, they quickly netted a second at the start of extra-time with sub McKee playing a huge part.
The former Rangers man latched onto a ball over the top from Jordan Stewart and used his pace to reach the ball just before it went out of play, and from inside the box he found his strike partner Ethan Devine who slotted home from close range on his Champions League debut to send the home crowd of around 3,000 fans wild.
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Victory seals a spot in the second qualifying round and now at absolute minimum guarantees a play-off tie for the Europa Conference League group stages. But that will be at the back of the minds of McKee and Co as they bid to go another step in the competition.
They return to Champions League action next Tuesday with the first leg played at Windsor Park as they host Bodo/Glimt.
The Norwegians will be a familiar face to Scottish football fans after they eliminated Ange Postecoglou's Celtic side from the Europa Conference League last season.
They earned a crack at Linfield after a 4-3 aggregate win over KI from the Faroe Islands. They won the first-leg at home 3-0 before going down 3-1 in the away tie.
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