Derry City 2 Gretna 2 (Derry win 7-3 on agg): Derry City completed the formality of their passage into the first round of the UEFA Cup at the Brandywell but Gretna made them fight all the way for their place in the draw.
Taking a 17th-minute lead gave the Scottish side the slightest hope that they could overcome the odds and a four-goal deficit from the first leg. But that was soon to be squashed by a Derry side content for the most part to hit their opponents on the break and rely as much as they could on solid defending.
Gretna manager Rowan Alexander did not quite throw caution to the wind but he did opt for a three-man attack of James Grady, David Graham and Kenny Deuchar in the hope of chasing down the four-goal deficit from the first leg.
And the plan yielded the early goal the Scots craved, albeit against the run of play after City had made all the early running.
A hopeful ball towards goal in the 17th minute was routinely headed clear by Darren Kelly but fell straight to Graham and from 35 yards he belted the ball past David Forde.
The goal did wonders for Gretna's confidence as they began to impose themselves on the home side and Derry's defence began to panic under the pressure, although Gretna were unable to force Forde into action.
They paid the price for their attacking formation when Derry broke quickly down the right in the 37th minute, Kevin McHugh squeezing the ball inside for Barry Molloy to slide a perfect through ball for striker Mark Farren who slid it under Alan Main for the equaliser.
Derry had two great chances to extend their lead in the tie in the minute before the break.
First Farren broke down the left but his shot from 18 yards was straight at Main and then Gareth McGlynn intercepted a slack pass on the halfway line and took it to the edge of the area before laying off to Stephen O'Flynn who shot wildly over the bar.
Gretna upped the tempo right from the start of the second half in a desperate attempt to get back into the tie and both Steve Tosh and Deuchar forced openings in the first six minutes but neither could find the target.
And Derry increasingly found Farren a useful safety valve up front, with long balls to the young Donegal striker intended to catch a stretched and at times rather static Gretna defence off guard.
Midfielder Kevin Deery, the scorer of two long-range goals from the first leg, came on just before the hour and almost immediately he was involved in the build-up to a great opening for the Candystripes when McHugh came just inches from heading home at the post in the 60th minute.
An inswinging Deery corner began the move for the second Derry goal, but although his ball for centre-half Ken Oman was initially dealt with it came back to substitute Gary Beckett on the touchline and he fed it across the goal for Oman to stab home in the 69th minute.
Gretna forced a 77th-minute equaliser slightly fortuitously after a great save down low to his left by Forde to deny Martin Canning. The ball fell to the feet of sub Ryan Baldacchino who tucked it into the empty net.
Elsewhere Drogheda United forced their tie into extra-time after Eamon Zayed scored in the 84th minute to cancel their 1-0 deficit from the first leg.
After extra time the two sides still couldn't be separated and penalties were required. That's where Drogheda agonisingly missed out as they lost the shootout 11-12.
