GEORGE HORAN was frustrated yet proud as Connah’s Quay Nomads’ bowed out of the Champions League.

Benjamin Tatar’s double was enough to help FK Sarajevo secure a 2-0 victory over Nomads at the Cardiff City Stadium.

That was only part of the story, however, as Nomads gave as good as they got and only two uncharacteristically indifferent pieces of defending helped Sarajevo book a second qualifying round trip to Dynamo Brest.

Nomads skipper Horan, pictured in action, asked to sum up his feelings at full-time, said: “Frustrating, but I’m so proud of the club, where we’ve come from over the past five or six years.

“It’s disappointing to lose the game in the manner we did though, the goals we gave were probably our own fault and we gave them away.

“To stay in the game for long periods after not playing since March has been great.

“Hopefully we get some games under our belt and we go again in September.”

Horan, who was a real threat in attack for Nomads from set-pieces, continued: “I’m proud of the lads because even after conceding the first goal we stuck to it and had a good go.

“It’s just disappointing. The referee didn’t let things flow, they were going down quite easily. I thought with him being a Northern Irish referee he might have let things flow.”

Michael Wilde headed agonisingly wide for Nomads inside the opening 10 minutes. Had Andy Morrison’s men opened the scoring, the one-legged tie could have been very different.

“We didn’t give in, we kept going right to the very end and it’s great for the club to get to where we are now,” said Horan.

“Maybe an early goal might have changed the reflection of the game, but we stuck to our jobs, tried our hardest and didn’t give in.”

Nomads will have another chance to make their mark on the European stage next month in the Europa League second qualifying round.

The 2020/21 Cymru Premier campaign is set to kick off on September 11 with Nomads set for Europa League action the following week.

“It will be great if we are into our season,” said Horan. “We always pick ourselves up and go again.”

Nomads director of football, Jay Catton, echoed the thoughts of Horan as he reflected on the club’s maiden Champions League campaign.

Catton tweeted: “Tough result to take for @the_nomads in club’s first ever experience in @ChampionsLeague. We reflect, learn, progress and attention turns to @CymruLeagues and @EuropaLeague fixture next month. Players deserve huge credit for their application last few months. #oneclub.

“The hardest pre European campaign we have had to pull off @the_nomads with numerous challenges with Covid. Special mention to all staff, committee and off the field teams at the club for pulling off the game and preparations. So much work by so many at club. #europe.”

Barry Town United’s Europa League campaign ended in disaster as they were thumped 5-1 by NSI Runavik, who saw Klaemint Olsen net a hat-trick.

Petur Knudsen and Steffan Lokin completed the rout in the Faroe Islands, with Kayne McLaggon netting Barry’s consolation.

Barry boss Gavin Chesterfield said: “Nobody expected it. There’s no excuses, there can’t be any excuses - we were beaten by a better team. We didn’t perform on the evening, we didn’t function in any department.

“These games are few and far between, so to find ourselves in this position deeply hurts, and myself, the staff and the players are all really hurt

“We’ve been slaughtered on social media and it’s time to wear our tin hats for a bit - and that’s fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion - but there’s always context.

“We’ve maximised our preparation time, my staff and the players have been absolutely fantastic with what we’ve been allowed to do and I went into that game with total piece in my mind.

As a manager if you feel you could have done something more to help the players get a result and you didn’t do it, you are kicking yourself.”

Europa League kings Sevilla won the 2019/20 tournament for a record sixth time thanks to a 3-2 victory over Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan in a thrilling final in Cologne.