Daire O’Connor had a dream debut for Glenthoran as his second half goal now leaves it all to play for in the return leg at The Oval next week.

Glens could have started strong early but missed a spot kick in the opening minute, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe gave them the lead before in the final quarter of the first half, Gzira hit back with two sucker punches to lead at the break.

O’Connor had set up the first goal for Glens, but would finish to the next for the second, the former UCD and Cork City forward marking his move to the Northern Irish side with a crucial goal that left the tie all square.

It was almost the dream start for the visitors 20 seconds into the tie, Shay McCartan played down the left wing, he crossed across the face of goal with the Gzira defenders able to clear, however the referee spotted a hand was used by Thiaguinho and he pointed to the spot, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe was the man chosen to take the penalty but he slipped as he made contact and the shot went high and wide.

At the other end the hosts attacked through the man who was booked Thiaguinho, but Glens goalkeeper Aaron McCarey denied him with a strong save, flag however was up, it was not up five minutes later when McCarey had to be down quick to save from Lucas Macula.

Shortly after dealing with the resulting corner, Glentoran went on the counter attack, down the right wing Daire O’Connor raced past the Gzira defenders, floating a lovely cross into the area Junior rose high to thump a header into the back of the net to give the Northern side the lead after ten minutes.

Chances were limited after as both teams were unable to cause a threat, however Bobby Burns had a great chance to double their lead 21 minutes in but his shot from inside the area was sent skyward.

After the cooling break, the home side settled and drew level just before the hour mark, Brooklyn Borg with some clever foot work made space to send a cross into the area, it was headed back across the area for Jose Wilkson to head at goal, his shot was saved, but he was quick to latch onto the rebound and from a tight angle squeeze it past McCarey.

Both sides had chances to get the next goal which would be a crucial score in the tie, but failed to hit the target, as the hosts attacked Jose Wilkson made a bursting run through the middle of the field and played it out wide to Lucas Macula, he played the offload to Borg on the edge of the area, his left footed strike going into the left hand bottom corner of the goal, a deadly counter attack to give the hosts the lead before half time.

Like the opening half it did not take long for the visitors to take their chances, Junior was brought down on the edge of the box and a clever quick set piece routine allowed Niall McGinn a shot at goal, David Cassar made the save put pushed it back put to the centre of the area, where O’Connor rose high to head home the equaliser after 48 minutes.

From here on the game was pretty cagey, both sides had chances but neither went close to finding that crucial third goal to swing the tie in their favour, next week's tie in The Oval will be all to play for as the sides remained deadlocked at the final whistle.