Derry City have to overcome a one-goal deficit in the second leg of their Europa League first qualifying round tie after CSKA Sofia were 3-2 victors against the Candystripes in Sofia.
Ioannis Pittas broke the deadlock in style before Liam Boyce fired Derry level in the 31st minute.
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Bruno Jordao restored CSKA Sofia’s advantage on 53 minutes before Pittas continued his fine form and netted the home side’s third.
The Candystripes kept pushing until the final whistle with James Olayinka narrowing the gap with one minute to go.
Tiernan Lynch’s side will now host the Bulgarian outfit at the Brandywell on 16 July.
CSKA Sofia ahead after end-to-end first leg
Surrounded by a cauldron of noise in Sofia, the home side dominated the opening stages and asked questions of Brian Maher with Pittas and Petko Panayotov coming close to breaking the deadlock.
CSKA Sofia’s persistence paid off, and they opened the scoring on 20 minutes thanks to a stunning curling strike from Pittas, which found the top corner.
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But the opening goal sparked Derry into life with Liam Boyce levelling the tie 11 minutes later when he found space and fired Michael Duffy’s free-kick into the back of net.
The stylish strikes kept coming with Jordao restoring the home side’s lead when Stefano Sensi found the midfielder at the edge of the box, who sent a powerful effort into the back of the net and past a stranded Maher.
After the restart, a nice move from Pittas and Pastor caught the Derry defence off guard with Pittas able to fire home for his second of the evening.
New signing Nick Twisk attempted to make an instant impact after his introduction when he won back possession for Derry and passed to Duffy, whose lovely flick-on was converted by Boyce.
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However, the 35-year-old had strayed offside in the build-up and, as a result, the effort did not stand.
Twisk continued to impress and, this time, made an impact at the other end to thwart Stefano Sensi’s effort.
The home side pushed for an even more comfortable lead with Patrick McClean diverting another shot from Sensi before Jordao fired well wide.
During a frantic final 10 minutes, Derry pushed forward but neither James McClean or James Olayinka could keep their efforts on target.
However, there was another goal to come with the home side unable to clear a Derry corner and Olayinka able to head home to keep the Derry City fans’ hopes of keeping the European dream alive.
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