zeljeznicar secure safe passage published: wednesday 24 july 2002, 23.30cet ía akranes 0-1 nk zeljeznicar(aggregate 0-4) bosnia-herzegovina's champions triumphed.
ía akranes 0-1 nk zeljeznicar (aggregate 0-4) bosnia-herzegovina's nk zeljeznicar comfortably defeated icelandic champions ía akranes to progress to a tie against the norwegians of lillestrom sk in the second qualifying round of the uefa champions league.
gredic's goal akranes faced an undeniably hard task following their 3-0 drubbing in the first leg and almir gredic's goal for the visitors on the half-hour mark sealed their fate - and secured the bosnians' second success in a week in a competition where they had previously never won a game.
goalkeeper caught out the zeljeznicar winger, a scorer in the first leg too, lobbed olafur gunnarss for the only goal of the game after the goalkeeper had been caught out of position after misjudging a cross from edis mulalic.
no way past even before conceding, akranes had discovered there was no easy way past the visiting defence. their early attacks were thwarted as zeljeznicar sat back, kept possession and patiently waited to pounce on the counter.
youngsters sent on akranes coach gudjon thordarsson seemed to have resigned himself to defeat by half-time and he sent on several youngsters after the break, clearly aiming to rest key men ahead of saturday's domestic meeting with kr reykjavík. anxious to make an impact, the substitutes gave their all, but zeljeznicar maintained their composure and were close to scoring again in the final stages.
