Aalborg BK opened their Gent series by hanging on with 10 men for a Saturday night rally draw on the road, while Hammarby hosted a first leg scoreless draw with FC Utrecht and Blackburn topped hosts FK Vėtra on Sunday.

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10-MAN AAB LEVELS GENT
Danny Califf and Aalborg managed their way to a 1-1 road share to open their Intertoto Cup tie with Belgian side Gent on Saturday night.

Adekanmi Olufade saw a goal waved off by the linesman's flag after only nine minutes, with Jeppe Curth forcing a fine Alexandre Martinovic into a fine save at the other end 10 minutes later.

Rade Prica then tested the home keeper before AaB debutant Martin S. Jensen turned away a Marcin Zewlakow header.

Just out of intermission Olufade converted from the spot after Zewlakow was pulled down in the area on a corner kick.

Siyabonga Nomvethe needed less than 10 minutes to equalize, banging home the woodwork rebound of a Prica try before being shown his second yellow card of the game for an overenthusiastic celebration.

With Aalborg down to 10 men, Żewłakow had a potential winner stricken from the record for a foul. Patrick Kristensen then tried to grab the visitors a late decider, but Martinovic came up big and the teams will reunite next Sunday at Aalborg Stadion on even terms.

Scoring
GENT - Adekanmi Olufade (PK) 48'
AAB - Siyabonga Nomvethe (Rade Prica) 56'

Line-ups
GENT - Alexandre Martinovic; Guillaume Gillet, Boban Grncarov, Aleksandar Mutavdzic, Massimo Moia (Gil Vermouth 76'), Davy De Beule, Christophe Grondin, Randall Azofeifa (Admir Haznadar 87'), Marcin Zewlakow, Dominic Foley, Adekanmi Olufade

AAB - Martin S. Jensen; Allan Olesen, Danny Califf, Jón Rói Jacobsen, Michael Jakobsen, Kasper Risgård, Thomas Enevoldsen (Suni Olsen 82'), Jeppe Curth, Andreas Johansson (Patrick Kristensen 67'), Siyabonga Nomvethe, Rade Prica

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UTREG HOLD HAMMARBY AT NIL
Charlie Davies and Hammarby IF were held to a scoreless draw by first leg guests FC Utrecht on Sunday afternoon.

It was a largely staid opening 50 minutes, but the visitors managed to carve out a couple of mild scoring chances, most notably with Hans Somers nodding wide after some smart combo play with Tom Caluwé.

From there, Hammarby tilted the pitch on a team working their competitive opener for new boss Willem van Hanagem.

Davies entered the match with 20 minutes left, and the hosts would enjoy their best spell after his arrival.

The American set up the best chance of the day by slipping Sebastian Eguren into the Utrecht area, but Gold Cup standout Franck Grandel came up with a big save to set the teams up for a thrilling conclusion in the Netherlands next Sunday.

Line-ups
HIF - Benny Lekström; David Johansson, Jose Monteiro,  Suleyman Sleyman, Christian Traore, Louay Chanko, Sebatian Castro-Tello (Erkan Zengin 57'), Sebastian Eguren , Haris Laitinen (Charlie Davies 71'), Petter Andersson, Paulinho Guará

FCU - Franck Grandel; Tim Cornelisse, Sander Keller, Francis Dickoh, Etienne Shew-Atjon, Hans Somers, Rick Kruijs (Leroy George 84'), Tom Caluwé, Gregoor van Dijk, Loic Loval, Robin Nelisse (Giuseppe Rossini 69')

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ROVERS GRAB AWAY VICTORY
Blackburn got a goal in each period and an alert showing from netminder Brad Friedel to open their Intertoto Cup duel with Lithuanian side FK Vėtra on a 2-0 away win.

The hosts showed some early acumen in approach, yet failed miserably when called on to hit the target. Vitalis Stankevičius fired wide on an early chance, then Lima Severino failed to punish an André Ooijer hospital back pass for Friedel by chipping over.

Rovers jumped ahead near the half hour mark when Morten Gamst Pedersen lofted a second chance cross for Benni McCarthy to one time home.

Bobi Božinovski quickly responded by wiggling his way in alone on Friedel, but poorly placed his shot wide from close range.

Blackburn gradually took the game by the leash, and sub Matt Derbyshire rippled net from distance in the waning moments for a cushion tally ahead of next weekend's Ewood Park return.

Scoring
BLA - Benni McCarthy (Morten Gamst Pedersen) 30'
BLA - Matt Derbyshire (Aaron Mokoena) 80'

BLA - Brad Friedel; André Ooijer, Stephen Warnock, Cherno Samba, Tugay (Aaron Mokoena 46'), Ryan Nelsen, Robbie Savage, David Bentley (Matt Derbyshire 65'), Morten Gamst Pedersen, Benni McCarthy (Maceo Rigters 65'), Jason Roberts