SLIGO Rovers' chairman Tommy Higgins has hailed as the "right outcome" UEFA's decision to give The Showgrounds the green light for their Viking showdown.
The Bit O' Red's 3-0 Europa Conference League aggregate dismissal of Motherwell on Thursday night sent the side into the third qualifying round and cost Steelmen boss Graham Alexander his job.
While jubilant Sligo fans celebrated a famous 2-0 second leg victory for John Russell's side, Higgins and his directors began to work on UEFA to pass their home ground for the August 11 second leg with the Norwegians.
By early this afternoon, Sligo had won their battle with UEFA handing Sligo a derogation for the game even though The Showgrounds is approximately 600 seats shy of the required 4,500 capacity for ties in this round.
"It's the right outcome and it's fantastic news for our supporters," declared Higgins.
"It's only a matter of several hundred seats.
"Everything else about the stadium is fine and we made huge efforts with ensuring that there was no pitch incursions on Thursday.
"We received good reports from the UEFA match delegates for the two ties to date this season which would have helped.
"Walter Holloran of the FAI was very helpful and we had been in touch with him earlier.
"To be honest, we had felt that progressing was a long shot but the first goal changed all that."
The Bit O' Red will fly by charter to Stavanger for the first leg next Thursday having used scheduled flights from Knock for the previous two away games."
While Sligo considered seeking a postponement of tomorrow's home FAI Cup first round tie against Wexford the game goes ahead as planned at 6pm.
Sligo did speak to the League of Ireland about a postponement of next weekend's Premier Division match at home to Bohemians but it will be played on Sunday evening.
Midfield star Niall Morahan is keen for Sligo to make progress in the Blue Riband which the club dominated between 2010 and 2013 with three wins but have struggled to make an impact in during recent years.
"We want to progress in the cup, this team is aspiring to win silverware," said Morahan.
"We're all on a high after Thursday night but we need to gather ourselves quickly and give a good account of ourselves against Wexford.
"The club has enjoyed great success in the cup in the past so hopefully we can get that going again."
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