St Johnstone and Aberdeen enjoyed memorable European nights to progress into the third qualifying round of the Europa League while Motherwell crashed out in injury time to Icelandic side Stjarnan on a 5-4 aggregate.
Aberdeen pulled off one of their best results in a decade to beat Groningen 2-1 to advance to the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
The Dons went to Holland on the back of a 0-0 draw at Pittodrie but raced into a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes thanks to goals from Adam Rooney and Niall McGinn.
Maikel Kieftenbeld pulled a goal back for Groningen just before half-time but the Dutch side found the Aberdeen defence in top form as they held on to record their third Europa League victory of the season.
Aberdeen’s reward is a tie against Real Sociedad in the next round with the first leg taking place in the Basque region next Thursday.
With Neil Doncaster’s squeals of Armageddon still putting sponsors off touching the SPFL brand the clubs have made the most of having the opportunity to reach European football without being up against a financially doped club that seemed immune from footballing sanctions.
St Johnstone join Aberdeen in the third qualifying round after beating Luzern 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in front of over 8,000 fans at McDiarmid Park.
Stevie May put the Scottish Cup holders in front midway through the first half from the penalty spot but Luzern equalised on the hour through Marcus Schneuwly with no further goals in the remaining hour of play.
St Johnstone will face Slovak side Spartak Trnava in the next round with the first leg in Perth.
In Iceland Motherwell found it tough going against Stjarnan with Keith Lasley conceding his third penalty of the tie in the 37th minute allowing Olafur Finsen to cancel out Stevie Hammel’s 11th minute opener.
Lionel Ainsworth restored Motherwell’s lead midway through the second half but five minutes from the full time whistle Rolf Toft equalised for Stjarnan to force the tie into extra time.
Just six minutes from the end of extra-time Stjarnan took the lead for the first time through Atli Johannsson to send Motherwell tumbling out of Europe.
